Interviews with 100 people in Huddersfield – capturing their fears and hopes – will form the backbone of an innovative performance piece by the Chol community arts and theatre organisation, celebrating its 21st anniversary in the town this year.
Chol Theatre’s creative producer Susan Burns, who has been with the company since 1999, was one of a team from the theatre who went out into the town centre to talk to passers by. They were armed with three main questions: Why are you in Huddersfield today? What are you afraid of? and What do you wish for?
They discovered that many of those questioned shared the same concerns.
As Susan explained: “We wanted to know why people were in town that day, whether they were visiting or working, if they had been born and bred in Huddersfield or came from overseas.
“The question ‘What are you afraid of?’ brought some common themes. People were saying they didn’t have enough time to do everything they wanted and they were worried for their kids; worried that they would have a worse life than them (the parents). For example, I met a young mum whose husband is a teacher. She had given up work for a year and she felt that they would never be able to buy their own home. People don’t think they’ll ever be able to afford to buy a house as nice as the one they are renting.
“Concerns over health came up and people mentioned worries over the closure of Huddersfield A & E.
“We thought people might be more fearful of other cultures and worried about migration but that didn’t really come up at all.
“Younger people were worried about not making the grade and not passing exams; older people said they were afraid of being alone in old age.”
The question about future hopes and wishes proved that we value those around us, with family welfare top of the list and material things low down. “People were not selfish, they were thinking about others. They wished that things could be better for their children,” said Susan.
Established in 1995, Chol (named after the Bangladeshi word for march or let’s get going) has enlisted the help of around 30 local people to produce HD100, a show that will shine the spotlight on contemporary life in Huddersfield.
The show is directed by Birkby-based freelance theatre director Amanda Huxtable. While the script is fictional, it is based on the real-life interviews, and has both serious and comic moments.
The piece is a perfect illustration of what Chol is all about.
As Susan says: “We run community theatre projects, making shows with groups and working in cultural education in schools and colleges. We have done a lot of inter-cultural projects about friendship between different groups.
“Our aim is to try and engage people in the arts, perhaps people who might not otherwise take part. We give a lot of chances to artists in their early careers.”
Chol, founded by husband and wife team Adam and Kim Strickson, has three full-time employees; two part-timers and around 10 artists who work with the company regularly.
It is based at the Lawrence Batley Theatre but takes works out into the community, running projects everywhere from muddy fields to swimming pools.
Funded by Arts Council England and Kirklees Council it works in partnership with housing associations and youth centres.
HD100 is at the Lawrence Batley Theatre on Thursday and Friday, April 14 and 15.
Tickets are £10 and £14 from www.thelbt.org or 01484 430528.
