“Who Cares” Theatre Trip

“Who Cares” Theatre Trip

“Who Cares” Theatre Trip

PUBLISHED 26 November 2021

“Who Cares” Theatre Trip - A Review by Jacob (Year 9)

On Monday 15th November GCSE Drama students alongside Year 9 & 10 Scholars piled on a coach and travelled to Salford to watch a piece of Theatre at the Lowry. Who Cares is a play about children who must take care of their parents who have mental and physical disabilities. The piece was created from interviews with real-life young careers from the Greater Manchester area. From here the authentic words and stories of these young carers were taken, workshopped, and edited into a script. This style of performance is known as Verbatim Theatre. This is such a powerful form of performance because it gives a voice to a voiceless community and uses art and performance to help create social change.

As such, I found the play had a very compelling story and through very talented and thoughtful acting the performers got the message across very well. So many scenes were real genuine tear-jerkers.

As an audience member, I liked the raw and naturalistic acting style the actors used to highlight the pain and frustration of the characters. Particularly in the scene where the character Jade (age 13) attempted to get her mother’s prescription from the doctors however was denied and not recognised as a carer. It was also great to see the actors use multi-role to show the opinions of the different people linked to this topic. For example, it was quite touching to see the actors transform from the young people into the parents that they cared for, sharing their perspectives on the matter. I really enjoyed the clever use of lighting during this moment, the parent characters were dimly lit, they could be heard but not fully seen. I think this was important as though the adults told the story it kept the focus on the young careers.

The performance ended with standing ovations and a roaring round of applause. It was very clear that this performance had left its impact and touched so many. Overall, the play had great storytelling and was an amazing showcase of Verbatim Theatre.

To help spread the message of the play further I’d like to share with you the Who Cares Campaign that has information all about how you can do your bit to support young carers.

Who Cares Campaign — Who Cares (whocarestour.org.uk)

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