York Theatre Royal has launched a campaign to raise £500,000 to help pay for its biggest upgrade in 50 years. Today, The Press publishes the latest in an occasional series of columns by writers explaining what the theatre means to them.

PEOPLE might not think of a theatre as an organisation that does research, but I am indeed a PhD researcher based at York Theatre Royal as well as York St John University.

And when people think of the word ‘research’, they might not picture the kind of work I do.

I am a storyteller, and I work with teenagers – another combination that might surprise people.

Most days find me out in secondary schools, mental health settings and youth groups on behalf of the theatre, telling stories and helping young people create their own.

The “research” part is what I learn from observing how they develop storytelling skills and use them to say things that are important to them.

Young people are really on the front line of a lot of challenges we are facing as a society, especially some of the vulnerable teenagers I work with.

Myths and folk tales may seem other-worldly, but young people often find in them new ways of understanding their own lives.

One group is putting together a storytelling performance to express their views on the mental health system.

A special needs class in a school created their own myth-inspired story expressing very movingly what it’s like to be an outsider.

Two boys who had hardly set foot in a theatre before emerged as very talented storytellers, and performed for families in the theatre’s Takeover Festival, when a team of young people run the entire theatre for a week.

By developing my position, the theatre has been able to use external, research council funding to spread its creative engagement work among more groups who wouldn’t otherwise have access to such opportunities.

For me, this theatre is less about performing to people than about helping York tell its own stories, now and into the future.

by Cath Heinemeyer

 

• York Theatre Royal is fundraising for a £4.1 million re-development, taking place in 2015. There is still £284,000 left to raise to ensure the theatre can be enjoyed by future generations for years to come. For more information, please visit www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/donate

Donate to the York Theatre Royal Capital Project now by texting YTRC15 £5 or YTRC15 £10 to 70070