The mission of a community play is to enable the widest number of people in a community to produce and participate in an original play of artistic excellence and contemporary relevance.

The process of producing a community play releases and develops the thinking, talents and strengths of individuals and the community – leading towards further collective and creative activity. Through the months leading up to the production, an abundance of activities, meetings, workshops and rehearsals develop friendships and support between people that represent a major reward of the work.

The result is that people feel better connected to each other, to their sense of place and belonging. Participants leave feeling empowered to shape the places they live or work and to take a more proactive role in community life.

“The real feeling you get is that a community has been confronted with a slice of its own past and in the process may have learned something vital about its turbulent and recessive present.”

The Guardian

“An inventive simplicity that makes it somehow a cross between Peter Brook and a large scale Bill Bryden.”

The Observer

“I’ve connected the story of my life to the stories of all the people who have lived here. I have a new sense that what happens from here on is also up to me, to us. I wouldn’t have missed that for anything.”

Participant, Matters of Chance, 2010