"I have made friends and connections that will never fade": TAP student Ruby Chandler's internship with LUNG Theatre.

Image 1: Young Carer Creative Makers Huddersfield group photo holding poems written during a workshop

Read below of Ruby’s experience at LUNG Theatre, where they explored the relationship between place and verbatim theatre!

The Transforming and Activating places scheme is undeniably essential within the artistic sector of Sheffield, able to provide incredibly important organisations with the means to grow and collaborate with students that are passionate about their core concepts and aims. This process could not have been better, being partnered with LUNG theatre has been a delightful experience, and I have made friends and connections that will never fade. 

The LUNG team are a beautifully intertwined artistic web of incredible people, all of which perpetuate the concept of ‘Placemaking’ in all of the work that they do. Even in an online zoom meeting, the places we used during the summer had to be activated for a multitude of reasons.

One of the main ways we did this during the internship was during Young Carer creative makers, a workshop scheme designed to give young carers a chance to connect to art, creativity and empower the next generation of young artists. Theatre venues in Huddersfield and Sheffield provided us with a space to host which, while already gorgeous, needed activating. The spaces became places due to the way the sessions were planned. It was important to the team to make sure that the young people’s boundaries were considered constantly throughout the days, by communicating with the young carers services and the young people themselves. 

With a safe space, the young people at Sheffield, who were between 14 and 16 years old, showed such a passion for speaking up about what was important to them. Having activism and campaigning as core to the activities of the workshop went so well and their ability to speak to eloquently on issues that they felt were important really reinstated my faith in young people and gave me hope for the future. Through sharing such passionate thoughts, I witnessed friendships and connections appearing in a group in which some had not met before the sessions.

I have really enjoyed writing about Young Carer creative makers for LUNG’s blog, especially highlighting how amazing they have been for the young carer’s services and local theatres. I requested to keep on writing for this blog after the placement, as I am inspired with ideas from being alongside their creativity, and they agreed. This gives me the chance to reflect on the summer internship as well. 

We also had a trip to London during the internship to be a part of LUNG showcasing their new upcoming production, ‘Children’s inquiry’, a verbatim piece about the social care system. We were able to witness the rehearsals and the final showcase with a small audience of friends and creatives in the industry. It was fascinating to gain insight into the process of such a production, and how verbatim theatre differs so much from non-verbatim pieces. Verbatim means the retelling of real-life spoken words, and LUNG writes such scripts always in collaboration with those directly involved in the play’s content.  Through the lens of ‘Placemaking’, this is really interesting, as LUNG must make sure that the places within the production are accurate and truthfully reflect the speakers’ experiences. The team of actors that were involved in the production we saw were also an inspiring group. They were all involved in the project, I believe, to put on the small showing for a small audience at the National Theatre studio, to perhaps get the show taken up and put on somewhere in the future. Yet, despite it being a short-term role, all of the actors put their absolute all into it. Hannah and I, both partnered with LUNG, were able to join in on their final goodbyes to each other after the project. This was very emotional, and even after only being there for a few days I could see the strong connections they had built over the month they worked on the condensed version of the show, genuine tears were shed at the end of the process. 

It meant so much to be a part of an organisation that values people at its core. The young carers at the creative makers and the actors at the National theatre are just two groups that LUNG brought together in a safe space. Being involved in this internship has given me a new outlook on the artistic sector. 
It has influenced me to question how ‘Placemaking’ can become a worldwide practice. In the pre-internship anti-racism sessions, Muna Abdi made a comment that has stuck with me since- people shouldn’t change to suit a place, a place should change to suit everyone. I have witnessed this happen with LUNG. These core ideals that I believe to be ‘Placemaking’ could be transferred across communities worldwide to encourage them to thrive and flourish.

Image 2: Young Carer Creative Makers Huddersfield group photo

Images 3 & 4: Young Carer Creative Makers Poster Day 1 and Day 2