BearFace Theatre: The Next Chapter

Firstly we ask you to flip the way you might read the word Theatre… 

BFT works with ‘the theatre’ of real lives played out in front of an audience of participants. ‘The theatre’ is lifted out, thrown around, unravelled and rehearsed in different ways to bring about positive change and personal development.



We are raising money to springboard our social enterprise into our next chapter

We are doing this in two ways, 

1) Continuing our professional development in the form of an MA at the Royal Central School of Speech &Drama

2) Making our infrastructure stronger by inviting a new team member to come on board to assist with adminstration, fundraising and marketing.

 By supporting us you will be supporting

·      Women on probation,

·      The rehabilitation of Offending Behaviour,

·      Employability of marginalised communities

·      Those with learning disabilities and difficulties to have a voice

·      Health and Social care professionals professional training and development.

·      Social theatre with a social mission to inspire and provoke debate.
 
Our work has snowballed over the last few years which we feel is testament to our catalytic, playful and therapeutic approach to positive progression. We pride ourselves in creating safe playful environments for vulnerable groups to explore, unravel and devise meaning and understanding from their theatre.



CASE STUDY : TINA
“The tall, eloquent and smart Tina is 9 months pregnant, on probation and desperately trying to stay off heroin. She sits in a room of other women who are also struggling to progress positively. We talk about her situation and she reveals herself, her worries and her realties, within an hour we are playing out a scene about choices and where our ‘heat’ is and at what point we can identify what we need and what we can do to change a cycle and a negative pattern. People are moving to play different roles, there is laughter, there is shouting, there are tears, there is beauty in movement and … there is silence ... then an open disucssion about what it means to make a positive change…..” BFT journal 2017

 We use theatre techniques such as forum theatre, improvisation and image theatre and often there is opportunity if appropriate to take these devised pieces of theatre and perform them to wider audiences. Thus giving a platform to real and honest voices responding to real issues in a tangible, accessible and thought provoking way.

QUOTE FROM A PROBATION OFFICER:
“You have come into a room of 8 women on probation and you have just achieved in one hour what I have been trying to do for the past 4 months, it was fun, poignant and you could really see the shift of perspectives in the room...." Probation officer in post for over 12 years

In the last year we have been developing work with organisations such as Hants CRC (Community Rehabiliation Company) Hampshire Cultural Trust, Youth Offending Team , Blue Apple Theatre, Mencap and many more.... and with your help we can get our infrastructure stonger to develop even more work where it is needed!


QUOTE FROM A ORGANISATIONAL PARTNER
'Drama and Theatre is a powerful tool for change. BearFace Theatre practitioners are very skilled in creating a safe and trusting environment, then gently leading individuals and groups through sessions, so that they participate fully and benefit from a positive experience. I have seen their work produce great outcomes time and time again with a variety of vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups of young people and adults.'  Cultural Engagment Manager @ Hampshire Cultural Trust 

We will be taking on Challenges from now till christmas 
we started with TOUGH MUDDER and will keep them rolling - check out twitter/ facebook @Bearfacetheatre for updates.

As part of our scaling up, we're looking for BearFaced fellows and other supporters to help us through the next phase.

£150 and above - Bear Faced Fellow:

As a fellow you'll get a monthly update of our work, invitations to exclusive performances and events, your name on our website 

£75 Bear Faced Friend:

As a friend you'll get a monthly update of our work and your name on our website 

£5 and above - BearHugger

We'll put your name on our website as a massive thank you!