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All of Us

A play & workshop exploring inclusion in Secondary education

Availability:

Currently available for short tours. Please contact info@womenandtheatre.co.uk for more information

Introduction

All of Us is set in Newbridge High school – a large fictional secondary school on the outskirts of a major city during the last day of the summer term. The play follows the story of three young people: Kai who is hearing impaired, Pal his brother who has cerebral palsy, and Kev who has behavioural difficulties stemming from the death of his mother at a young age.

During the play we follow the experiences of Kai, Pal & Kev as they deal with difficulties and challenges they face throughout the day. We also see what happens when they come into contact with staff and parents and their attitudes towards them. The play comes to an inspirational climax as the young people and adults begin to develop understanding of each other’s individuality.

All of Us aims:

• To ask and inform the question – What is inclusion?
• To raise awareness of the experience and needs of young people with different experiences. These may include physical disabilities, learning difficulties, challenging behaviour and differing family backgrounds
• To encourage an individual young person centred approach.

The play is accompanied by a workshop tailored to audiences of either staff or pupils. This allows both the themes of the play and the real experiences of that particular school to be explored in an active way, through drama. The structure of the workshop enables participants to express opinions and fears in an open and honest way.

The Salamanca Statement from the World Conference on Special Educational Needs, states:
“all ordinary schools should accommodate all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions”.

History

Women & Theatre were commissioned by Birmingham City Council’s Inclusion Team to research, develop, produce and perform a new piece of theatre for schools on the subject of inclusion. All of Us was researched with young people, schools and parents and was piloted in September 2001 in three Birmingham schools. The play was performed for all year 10 pupils and their teachers, school staff and parents and members of the local community. The play has been designed to be as widely accessible as possible and has been performed to groups of blind and deaf young people and those with learning or behavioural difficulties.

Since its creation, All of Us has been performed over 90 times for different schools, educational professionals and other agencies. These have included:

• Police Force
• Educational Psychologists
• Staff Teams
• Conferences
• Pupil groups

Notes

“The W&T scripting process always begins with an initial meeting between a commissioning organization and W&T staff. From this meeting a research contact list is created. In the case of All Of Us, this list included secondary schools with well developed inclusive practice, parents of young people with special needs, special schools, individual young people, dinner ladies, caretakers and taxi drivers.

Terina Talbot, Fran Stevens and I went into schools and talked to Head Teachers, pupils and teachers about what inclusion meant to them. It quickly became clear that inclusion was not only about adapting mainstream schools to enable wheelchair access. It is a complete philosophy of valuing difference and recognizing the valuable contribution that all of us make to a healthy, humane, stimulating and above all, successful society.

Notes were taken at interviews and these notes and conversations between the three of us began to form in my head, the story for the play. From the research it became clear that we needed the voices of parents, teachers, support staff and young people in the play. I wanted to show that inclusion benefits everyone and also to put on the table for discussion, some of the fears and misconceptions communities share about what inclusion may mean for them. The text has often been created verbatim from research notes during the development period. I have tried to accurately reflect the attitudes, stories and the strength of the inspirational people that we met during the research process. We would like to thank all those involved with the research.”
Janice Connolly, Writer

“The play, as well as being humorous and well-observed shows us people in difficult circumstances – a head teacher under great pressure, a teacher inexperienced at dealing with young people with ‘special needs’, a parent having to fight for the right of her son to attend a main-stream school along with his brother, young people living with deafness and emotional vulnerability. It was very important not to be sentimental or over-emotional in our approach to work on the play and to have respect for the characters being portrayed – so, for example, it was important for us to understand the pressures currently facing teachers and head teachers, whilst not shying away from being critical of their actions. It was not a question of taking sides or apportioning blame, rather one of raising questions for the audience.

As a director I enjoyed my work on All Of Us immensely – working with a strong script and a strong team is always satisfying (and challenging). I felt we created a powerful and useful piece of work for young people and their teachers. I’ve taken away from my experience a sense that the whole area of inclusion is a complex one! It is an important principle but one that needs the back-up of proper resourcing and support… I was shown round a Comprehensive school in Birmingham fairly recently and came across the door to an office marked ‘Inclusion Office’, I asked the yr.8 pupil showing me round ‘What goes on in there?’ she replied, ‘it’s where the kids who are thrown out of class get sent’! I think the policy and its wider understanding still has a way to go.”
Terina Talbot, original Director

Outcome

Audiences:
‘A very powerful and professional performance which challenged even those who consider themselves enlightened. The performance prompts you to review your reactions.’ – Nicki Warner West Midlands Police

‘I walked a mile in another man’s shoes.’ – Teacher, Wheelers Lane Technology College

The actors were all very convincing and good at acting. This helped you to believe in the characters and to care about their stories and each character’s problems. I would definitely watch one of their plays again because of the good messages that they show. It certainly got me thinking about how we can include children who have disabilities more readily and how people can misjudge and offend them because of their ignorance.
From a review of All of Us by a Year 7 Pupil, Swanshurst School

Production Credits

Researched & Written by: Janice Connolly
Researched & Originally directed by: Terina Talbot
Originally performed by: Paul Magson, Dan Hagley & Semone Rhone
Set Design by: Sue Hall

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