Collective Encounters in partnership with St Helens Council and Crisis are bringing Cardboard Citizens acclaimed play Glasshouse to St Helens Central Library. The performance will be open to an invited audience of participants from Collective Encounters outreach programme and will take place on April 24th at 7pm.
Glasshouse is Cardboard Citizens’ new Forum Theatre play written by award-winning poet, lyricist and writer Kate Tempest. Her previous theatre work includes Wasted (Plaines Plough) and Brand New Ancients (BAC, Albany).
It is a story about family and how hard it can be to keep loving. Framed by Tempest’s dark and gritty writings, Glasshouse takes you through the lives of three family members, all of whom struggle to live both together and away from one another. This leads to moments of despair, fragility, and unexpected tenderness.
All but one of the actors have experienced homelessness. The show has been carefully researched and written in collaboration with Cardboard Citizens’ homeless members, reflecting the struggles and hardships of those who are living on the margins of modern Britain – from the cuts and changes to benefits, to those who are struggling to find work and pay their rent.
This is a piece of Forum Theatre. During the second part of the show, Glasshouse invites audience members to stop the action, come on stage and rehearse alternative scenarios that will lead to a positive change for the protagonists. A character called the ‘joker’ facilitates the theatrical dialogue between the actors and the audience.
We are very excited to be hosting Cardboard Citizens as part of their second national tour of this production and wish them every success with the remaining tour dates.
About Cardboard Citizens
Cardboard Citizens is an award-winning theatre company that uses the performing arts to change the lives of homeless people. They specialise in bold, immersive theatre that breaks down conventional divisions between audiences and performers, homeless people and the rest of the community.
Cardboard Citizens is one of the world’s leading practitioners of Forum Theatre. Forum Theatre invites the audience to stop the action in the second part of the evening, and come on stage and rehearse alternative scenarios to lead to positive changes. It allows audiences of all ages to share opinions about current social issues, take ownership of their actions, and develop the confidence, resourcefulness and resilience to address similar situations faced in real life.
