Theatre Royal Plymouth Celebrates over 10 Years of Our Space

Theatre Royal Plymouth is celebrating more than 10 years of their ground-breaking Our Space project with the release of a new podcast series ‘Rehearsals for Life’. From Monday 05 October TRP will highlight the in-depth podcast series for a weeklong celebration journeying the life of Our Space over the last 11 years.

Our Space is a first of its kind creative programme that has worked with over 724 adults with multiple and complex needs. Members come from all walks of life and may have faced challenges involving homelessness, mental health issues, re-offending, substance misuse, or isolation.

As part of this celebration TRP are launching Rehearsals for Life, a five-part podcast series interviewing practitioners and participants on the journey, process and impact of this first of its kind theatre-based project which uses drama as a tool to connect with others and develop skills.

Sara Rhodes, Engagement Manager at Theatre Royal Plymouth said in her interview: “It’s that sense of community, that sense of building a positive social network and people feeling like the theatre is a space for them, that they are welcome in, that they are not going to be judged in and that they can start to build a new life for themselves around and outside of the sessions.

“We are providing a space where they can build their confidence, where they can tap into something new and exciting for themselves and we are also providing them with open doors for them to come in and build those new relationships with other people and think about new ways of living outside of the drama session, I think that is the key part of the project that is most exciting”.

Our Space participant Pete said about the project: “What being at Our Space allowed me was to be authentic, you know, it was like a safe space, what it actually did was it kind of softened me, softened my heart and it allowed me to form healthy relationships with people. And I really needed that”.

Over the last 11 years Our Space have held over 898 drama workshops where 76% of participants felt that their self-esteem and confidence had improved, and their isolation reduced, and 68% of family and friends feedback suggested participants had better relationships and ‘ability to face the world’ because of Our Space.

The five episodes of the Rehearsals for Life podcast series see’s Theatre Royal Plymouth’s Director of Engagement and Learning, Mandy Precious, interviewing key practitioners and participants about Our Space. The series takes the listener on the creative journey the project has been on over the last 11 years and how the project really works and impacts people.

TRP will be celebrating Our Space throughout the week commencing 05 October, and the new Rehearsals for Lifepodcast series will be available to listen to on the TRP website and all major podcast platforms including Spotify.