2021…What a year!

While 2021 was challenging in many ways, we wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate the little wins over the past year as we jump back into work and start a brand-new year.

Our interest in 1-1 multisensory work was one of the core reasons for us setting up as company. 2021 saw the initial pilot of our first multisensory cinema experience, Mariana’s Song. We were really pleased with the quality of the film, and through creating multisensory prototype props out of simple materials we’d been learning through trial and error. However, we desperate to get some feedback from our audience. So, we called out to our professional and unpaid carers who kindly agreed to test out Mariana’s song 1.0 with their residents/ loved ones at home and report back.

Now, as a pair of theatre makers, I wouldn’t say that we possess the required skills for designing and prototyping newly invented objects, but we gave it a good go! It’s funny to look back now and to remember all the days spent making those prototypes and getting it wrong many times before coming close to getting it right. However, it was so useful to get feedback in the early stages and some elements of those early ideas still exist in the designs today.

It was clear by the summer of 2021 that we had reached a point where we needed to bring in specialist skills to push the design of Mariana’s Song forward. We had a link with a design fellow at CDC (The Centre for Design Citizens at Northumbria and Newcastle Uni) from way back and we simply asked to meet for some advice. To our surprise, we were offered to be taken on as one of the CDCs community development projects as our approach to multisensory cinema fit in with their research around agelessness and our approach was seen as novel – making it an ideal candidate for university research. Obviously, we we’re pleased to accept!

Securing a partnership with CDC means that we can blend our knowledge of our audience and their expertise in design and technology to create beautiful props and to facilitate user-led engagement in the film. Marianas Song is a non-linear piece that focuses on creating atmosphere and through interacting with objects that enhance the film, participants will be able to choose the time and order that they engage with each chapter through non-verbal communication.

So, what’s next? Well! We have a new set of prototypes ready to be cast and we’re currently in the process of building an installation to test the next version of Mariana’s Song. We have partnered up with Sunderland Culture who have supported us in piloting Mariana’s Song in 5 care homes. We will be installing the experience within the homes and will be carrying out carrying out focus groups and market research. W have also been in talks with Newcastle Council’s Wellbeing team who have offered us support in-kind to further test and pilot Mariana’s Song within a public space.

If you follow us on social media, you’ll have probably seen updates on our Care Home FANS (friends and neighbours) project. This project is pretty huge as it involves 9 schools, a youth group and 10 care homes across an 18-month period. While it’s not been the easiest to run a big intergenerational project in the midst of a pandemic, it has encouraged lots of creative delivery.

The project started with character workshops, which were used as a tool to engage participants in the planning of their own social action projects. After the creation of Posty and Wosty from the Nice and Toasty Delivery Service in 2020 we couldn’t wait to use character again as a way of engaging people over zoom. It’s so hard to get that feeling of in-the-room connection over zoom and we found that character work really helped to bring people in. So, Sally Serious-ily and Polly Properpotamous were born!

Around this time Eleanor and Izaak joined the team. *Enter the full serious-ly silly’ squad; Polly Properpotamous, Sally Seriousilly, Herbie Hillarious and Fiona Fomalington-Smithe. Then soon after, Ellen jumped on board too. We are so grateful for this team of absolute gems; the delivery of this project is constantly changing, and we are adapting daily to find a way to keep residents and children engaged. From zoom, part zoom and part in person, garden workshops, window visits, letter writing and sending videos, where there has been a will to make contact cross the groups, we’ve found a way.

We’re about 6 months away from project completion – all of our groups have really exciting plans for the next 6 months, so watch out for updates on our socials!

Finally, and this must be the top highlight of 2021 for us, The Playfulness Project happened, and it was everything we’d dreamed of and more!

We dreamt up The Playfulness Project in lockdown 1 but gained funding from Big Local Gateshead just in time for Spring/ Summer 2021. The idea was to train up children as clown performers, and to surprise residents at a local care home. We have been interested in using clown performance in care homes for ages and after a year of having little to no contact with children and young people, we felt that a surprise pop-up performance was the ideal way to spread some joy and get young and old people playing together again.

The performance days were just beautiful. After a few weeks preparing at school, we walked with children through the streets of Bensham armed with instruments and props before arriving at the care home. After playing games together and watching little pieces of performance, the older people all developed their own clown characters and were helped to get in role by the children.

Looking back, I think of colour and noise and laughter, the perfect tonic to months in isolation. We are currently fundraising for this project and hope to roll it out across multiple schools this Spring/ Summer.

So, what’s in store for 2022? Well, our Mariana’s Song 2.0 will be installed into Grainger Market in Spring and will then best tested in care homes with residents. We’ll roll The Playfulness Project (fingers crossed) across Spring, and we’ll facilitate more pop-up garden performances in summer. We’re also making a new show! Inspired by Sunderland Young Carers and Writers Who Care Newcastle, we are working on a collaborative piece involving unpaid carers and older people in a care home to explore intergenerational relationships and themes around caring and being cared for. More about this in our next blog!

Thanks to everyone who came along for the ride in 2021. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2022.