I've just got back to Cardiff after an intense six weeks of creating and directing a piece of promenade theatre on the council estate of Peblig in Caernarfon for Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru.

I had three main aims for this project-

1- I wanted the residents of the estate to be an integral part of the production.

2- I wanted the production to fit onto the estate organically and not be plonked on artificially.

3- I wanted it to be big!

Residents were invited to participate in a variety of ways- they could join the art group to learn how to make props and art installations, they could join the vertical dancing group to learn how to dance and do stunts on outside walls, they could join the acting group to perform in the production, they could steward on the production weekend and they could even join our newly formed choir. 

I'm not ging to lie, recruiting at the beginning was a challenge and I had to make a very last minute decision of getting profesionnal actors on board because I didn't have enough people that wanted to perform.  

But once we had our team of volunteers and once our production team and actors joined us, the experience was magical. Everyone worked so hard, everyone pulled together and more and more people started to open their doors and watch the rehearsals from their doorsteps (literally!). 

There were parts that were rough around the edges but do you know what? It didn't matter. When a play is located on such a real setting there's no pretending that what we're doing is 'real' and yet everyone would follow the actors around the estate every night because they wanted to know what happened next, wanted to see how he/she turned out in the end. They knew that they were acting but they were playing along because they could relate. It was their story- the story had come from their estate, from their backgrounds and from their presents situations. They understood that world and so had no qualms in jumping into it and that's what was magical to watch because residents of all ages were stepping into a storyworld and playing along. If I would have invited them to come to the theatre to watch that play, I wonder how many would have come? 

This play needed to happen on the estate. 

Here are a few photos of what we created-

The ethos I believed in and shared with the team right from the start was that we would always make sure that we left a 'positive mark' on anyone or anywhere that we worked with- even if it's as small as replacing a broken plant pot or as big as boosting self-confidence and the messages we've been receiving on Facebook seem to say that we've achieved that.

Bringing theatre onto people's doorsteps comes with a responsibility- you can't treat the place as a set, you can't expect the residents to be as obedient as actors and you have to accept that you're not the boss. I've learnt so much and loved it- I love the buzz, excitement, spontaneity and importance that comes with making site-specific work. The story MUST belong to that site.

I'd like to thank the residents of Peblig for their welcome and for trusting me to tell their story. Diolch.