This is the power of community theatre when we give local communities a platform to tell their stories in a safe and inclusive environment. It was such a joy to see The Black Men Consortium devised play ‘Without Planning Permission’ yesterday at Brixton House and the audiences being a part of the creative process. 

It was great for the audiences who ended up being a part of the performance to hear Tony Cealy the director, producer and facilitator of this play talk about the creative theatre process that was used to work on this production and how the project started off with 37 Black Men who were all dealing with various mental health and life issues; working on this arts, health and wellbeing project at the beginning, to see 20 Black Men overcoming their challenges and performing and working backstage at the end of this creative process. 

Over the last the last five months it has been a pleasure for us at Brixton House to work with this group. 

This is the power of applied theatre when we work with communities on equal terms. 

It was so beautiful to see various communities from all cultural backgrounds watching this sold out devised play and taking part in it. 

It is so important that local communities feel and see that the arts and theatre is there for them too, on an equitable level.

I have always been a student of theatre practitioners and educators like Paulo Reglus Neves Freire, Augusto Boal, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Joan Littlewood, John McGrath and musical geniuses like Fela Kuti and Nina Simone who were all about the everyday people and how we tell their stories and bring them to live via real co-creation and collaboration on equitable terms. 

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Good morning King and Queens, hope you all had a great evening. Yesterday Annette and myself went to see ‘Without Planning Permission’ all I can say is bravo to Lloyd and the team it was a wonderful thought provoking production beautifully delivered by talented Kings. Only draw back it’s only on for this weekend!

 An absolutely brilliant performance by the entire cast and a novel way to get audience participation. You actually felt like you were part of the change. More of this please and take this performance across the country.

Truly enjoyed the show and the concept of the play. I thought I was just going to watch a play. Love the opportunity to interact with the characters and immerse myself within the play. The complex characters and issues that the audience could relate to. A winning formula.  The con – the run was too short. 3 performances insufficient.

Well done Tony and all the actors!  It was such a brilliant and thought provoking show – really brave with the form and held together expertly by you! 

It was a good drama with lots of audience interaction. The play dealt with most of the issues we face in life, poverty, racism, homophobia, youth issues i.e. prison, death estrangement from parents. Well done Tony and the cast

I saw the final performance last night.  The play was amazing!!!!. Our brothers gave a performance that touched on so many elements within our community.

The interaction between performers & the audience was electric & could have gone on all night.

I am so looking forward to the next production as I know it will be phenomenal!

Well done the black men’s consortium