• We Are New Here (1998)
  Community theatre project

  We Are New Here (1998) Community theatre project

  We assembled a group of 15 young people aged 16-25yrs that were either refugees or asylum seekers living in the Borough of Westminster, London. Most had connections to Bayswater Families Centre and the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture. The idea behind the project was to unearth real stories from young people who came to the UK unaccompanied. It was a political ‘hot potato’ at the time and we discovered very quickly that many people seeking refuge didn’t want to be in the country but had very real and distressing reasons to be here. We wanted to give them a voice – little did we know how powerful their voices proved to be.

  We put together a creative team that included, Director: Alison West, Writer: Louise Warren, Designer: Cathy Wren, Project Coordinator: Richard Hawley and collaborated with the group, who came from Iran, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, and the Sudan.

  Together we produced a play in which most of the young people performed their own stories to audiences at the Studio Theatre, Westminster. These non-actors provided the audience with searing performances, which left the audience breathless in admiration for the quality of the storytelling and bravery in telling their own very personal journeys.

  Funded by: London Arts Board, Westminster City Council, & The Prince’s Trust

  
• New Faces, New Places (1999)
  Schools Project

  New Faces, New Places (1999) Schools Project

  This project attempted to enquire into what children aged 13-14yrs thought of all the stories of asylum seekers and refugees in the news. We approached the subject matter through drama that sought to stimulate empathy for young people that were entering the country who were at the same age as them. We were particularly interested in their opinions of how they would feel if it was them that had to make the journey; how would they like to be treated. Again, as in our first project, the results were powerful, honest and it was remarkable how readily the children participating were willing to understand and empathised with lives that were made extraordinary by extreme change of circumstances.

  The same creative team that worked on our first project came together once more to work with three schools: Pimlico School, St. Augustine’s CE High School, & St. Marylebone’s School, who worked with us and identified a group of children in Year 9 and supported bringing the schools together to share the work, which took place at Paddington Arts Centre to a packed audience.

  Funded by: London Arts Board, Westminster City Council & participating schools.

  
• Chol’s Story (2000–2002)
  Children’s Participatory Theatre Workshop

  Chol’s Story (2000–2002) Children’s Participatory Theatre Workshop

  "When there is shooting. When you hear bang! bang! You don’t think of your friend. You just run to save your life.”

  Chol’s Story was an extremely rewarding project for Intrepid and for many of the people involved, which included over 100 secondary schools, lots of talented theatre facilitators & djembe drummers, local community groups, including the Brighton Sudanese community group, Brighton Fringe Festival, Meltdown 2001 at the Royal Festival Hall (with Haggerston Girls School & Hackney Free & Parochial School), London, Refugee Action Events in Birmingham (with Handsworth Girls School), Hastings Coastal Currents Festival plus two extensive tours of schools across London & the southeast of England (including Kent, Surrey, East & West Sussex plus the unitary authority of Brighton & Hove).

  The story of Chol Paul Guet was discovered in a remarkable book, ‘One Day We Had To Run’ by Sybella Wilkes, who asked children that were living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya to re-tell their personal stories through painting pictures; as this was also a therapeutic way to talk about their experiences they had kept locked deep within themselves. The pictures led some children to talking about their experiences and Chol was one such child.

  Alison West adapted Chol’s Story and created a participatory theatre workshop. Three theatre facilitators worked with three groups on a third of the story and then the groups were brought together at the end of the session, where each group performed their story before the others (using sticks and fabric– Intrepid’s staple tools at the time), making the story the whole journey, which was accompanied by a skilled djembe drummer who scored the performance.

  The workshop always brought exciting results and every group we worked with produced their own unique version of the story. To give context to the story we loaned the original paintings from UNCHR for two years. They toured all the all schools we worked in and all the events we staged or took part in – they enriched the experience for all.

  We eventually found out what happened to Chol. He emigrated to Canada as an adult with his sister and her husband and he still lives there today.

  Funded in a range of events: Southeast Arts Board, Refugee
  Action, EMAS in several London Boroughs, East Sussex County Council, Brighton & Hove Council,
  Written by: Alison West
  Artists:  Alison West, Sharon Aviva Jones, Pip Henderson, Suzanne Proctor, Maria Pattinson, Kate Hazel, Julia Box, Lorraine Le Blanc, Doug Manuel, Cicely Taylor, Paul Zimmerman & Seth Newman.

  
• Hear My Voice (2002)
  Schools New Media & Drama Project

  Hear My Voice (2002) Schools New Media & Drama Project

  Hear My Voice was Intrepid’s attempt to journey into the realms of new media with avant-garde company, Desperate Optimists. We were interested in two things: exploring how connected young people living felt to their community, their family, their roots and to themselves in the metropolis of London and also how we could explore these notions through drama initially but then to capture young people, ‘thinking aloud’ on film. The results were thoughtful and surprising.

  We began our journey by exploring the culture & community of the Makah tribe, living on the Northwest tip of America, isolated and marginalised but deeply focused on securing their sense of culture & community. And we wondered, how, in other cultures, in large urban landscapes, young people from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds ‘connected’ with their own culture & community. Did they feel it was all gone? Did they care? Did they have inherited culture they were proud of?

  The project culminated at the Hackney Empire, where the groups came together and performed a drama piece exploring these themes, alongside screens of the girls on film. It was experimental but highly enjoyable and the films really captured those thoughts, beautifully.

  Funded by: London Arts Board, participating schools, The Baring Foundation
  Creative Team: Writer & Director: Alison West, New Media Artists: Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Desperate Optimists), Movement: Theseus Gerrard, & Project Coordinator: Richard Hawley and three groups of girls from Clapton Girls School.

• The Foundling (2003)
  Touring Theatre Children & Families

  The Foundling (2003) Touring Theatre Children & Families

  "So sad and terrible were the partings between foster mothers and foster children, they say the floorboards of the reception hall never dried from all the tears that fell.”

  The Foundling was Intrepid’s journey into exploring the ‘hidden’ history of the Foundling Hospital and our interest in the still highly contentious issue of teenage pregnancy.

  The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply indicating the institution's "hospitality" to those less fortunate.

  The first children were admitted to the Foundling Hospital on 25 March 1741, into a temporary house located in Hatton Garden. At first, no questions were asked about child or parent, but a distinguishing token was put on each child by the parent. These were often marked coins, trinkets, pieces of cotton or ribbon, verses written on scraps of paper. Clothes, if any, were carefully recorded. One entry is, "Paper on the breast, clout on the head." The applications became too numerous, and a system of balloting with red, white and black balls was adopted. Children were seldom taken after they were twelve months old. On reception they were sent to wet nurses in the countryside, where they stayed until they were about four or five years old. At sixteen the girls were generally apprenticed as servants for four years; at fourteen, boys became apprentices in varying occupations for seven years. There was a small benevolent fund for adults.

  We were desperate to not just create a history piece and so we explored other developments and learned of changes of adoption laws in the 1960’s and 1980’s and the stories behind the mother’s who gave up their children for adoption.

  Our play, therefore, charted this epic and emotional journey, which was handled beautifully by three women cast in multi-roles by John Retallack.

  Funded by: Arts Council England, Southeast & East Sussex County Council. Development Funds: The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
  Creative Team & Cast: Based on an original idea by: Alison West, Writer: John Retallack, Director: Guy Retallack, Education & Staff Director: Alison West, Designer: Fred Meller, Musical Arrangement: Karl James, Cast: Eleanor Moriarty, Louise Fitzgerald, Fiona Bruce, Producer: Richard Hawley
  Tour: Brighton Dome, The Hawth Arts Centre (Crawley), The Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Cranleigh Arts Centre and numerous southeast secondary schools.

  
• Made in India (2004)
  Schools Project

  Made in India (2004) Schools Project

  Our Made in India participatory workshop was awarded alongside Lewes based business, Gossypium the 1st Time Sponsors Award from Arts & Business South East in 2005 at Hampton Court Palace.

  Made in India was the second part of a sponsorship-in-kind deal with local ethical trading company Gossypium, who source all their organic cotton in India. We negotiated a sponsorship deal with them that worked in two parts, which was brokered and part funded by Arts & Business South East. 

  The first part involved Gossypium directly in our community production of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, which was adapted for performers aged 4 – 19years. Gossypium provided costumes for each actor and was involved in not just the making of the costumes but also the fitting.

  The second part involved Intrepid creating an educational workshop for Gossypium, which had the objective of educating children about the differences between mass-produced cotton and organic cotton, about fairly traded goods, and about the Indian farmers Gossypium worked with. We took the workshop on a tour throughout 25 Brighton & Hove & East Sussex primary schools over a six month period.

  The inspiration for the schools workshop came through The Eye of the Needle, Gossypium’s Development Director, Abigail Petit own personal account of her journey.

  The project was awarded the prestigious, Arts & Business New Partners Award in April 2005, at Hampton Court Palace.

  Key Artist: Alison West

  
• Two Households (2004)
  Community theatre project

  Two Households (2004) Community theatre project

  In the balmy summer heat of 2004, a group of fifteen young male, unaccompanied asylum seekers kicked their heels in their isolated hostel in Kennington, a suburb of Ashford, Kent. With their lives suspended before their applications for asylum were processed, Intrepid put together a writer/director, Alison West and dancer/choreographer Sujata Banerjee who prepared a six-week residency with them based on Romeo & Juliet.

  Romeo & Juliet, is a universal story of conflict and misunderstanding, a story of male gangs, pride, the follies of conflicts left unresolved through families/ towns/ nations sweetened and deepened by the young lovers from opposing families romance and loss, it seemed an ambitious but perfect choice.

  No one could speak fluent English; some had no English at all, so we thought, why not try the poetry and rhythm of Shakespeare together!

  The project would have been hopeless without the interpreters' enthusiasm and expertise, and they themselves became cast in the production as the 'Chorus,' relating and reflecting the action to the audience. One outdoor sharing performance in the hostel's grounds brought an invited audience of a hundred strong.

  The asylum seekers discovered parallel stories from their own culture and these were told and then translated into English by the interpreters. Later the work moved as a storytelling package to local schools in Kennington to explore and educate young people about the age-old, universal issue of seeking asylum and why people seek asylum in this country at the moment.

  It was a rewarding project, with one of highlights included working with Sujata, who is one of the most dynamic and skilled Kathak dancers in the UK today.

  Funded by: Arts Council England Southeast & Ashford Borough Council.

  
• Clamshell Boy (2005)
  Touring Theatre for Children & Families

  Clamshell Boy (2005) Touring Theatre for Children & Families

  "There are a thousand paths in this forest but you found mine.”

  Clamshell Boy grew out of an explorative development phase with school children devised to specifically engage with our target audience before we created our new work. The project culminated with a performance at The Brighton Dome.

  Clamshell Boy is a universal story of family, community, the environment and the power of storytelling. It’s a free adaptation of the Makah’s traditional story of Basket Woman, a cautionary tale of a child-eating monster, whose story is used to keep children straying into the woods.

  “Clem goes to live with his cousins Raven and Mink who think he’s weird because of his strange stories and his stupid leg. Raven tricks Clem into upsetting their neginbour Mrs Lewinsky with a prank that goes wrong – they shouldn’t have messed with her as it leads to all kinds of trouble for all three of them, not least when Basket Woman appears…”

  Funded by: Arts Council England, Southeast, East Sussex County Council & Brighton & Hove Council
  Development Funds: Three Brighton Primary Schools and The Brighton Dome Education Unit.
  Development Work: Storyteller Richard Cupidi specialising in Native American srories and culture, Kefi Chadwick, Alison West & Richard Hawley.
  Creative Team & Cast: Based on an original idea by: Alison West & Richard Hawley, Writer: Kefi Chadwick, Director: Alison West, Designer: Num Stibbe, Education Director: Alison West, Lighting Design: Graham Loughman
  Cast: Simon Carroll-Jones, Adam Carpenter, Becky Kitter & Maria Lloyd, Producer: Richard Hawley, Professional Placement Student from Central School Of Speech & Drama: Samantha Macefield, Photographer: Jon Walters.
  Tour: Brighton Dome, Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Pelham House, Lewes Live Literature Festival, Hawth Studio Crawley and numerous secondary schools throughout Surrey, Kent and Sussex.

  
• Citizenship (2005)
  Young People’s Theatre Production

  Citizenship (2005) Young People’s Theatre Production

  "A bittersweet comedy about growing up, following a boy's frank and messy search to discover his sexual identity.”

  “One of his very best plays. Ravenhill captures excellently the sexual insecurity of adolescence as well as the infinite curiosity.”
  Guardian

  Creative Team: Director: Alison West, Stage Manager: Becca Clay, Casting: Richard Hawley & Lucie Floyd, Photographer: Jon Walters, National Theatre Connections writer and director: Mark Ravenhill and Max Stafford-Clark respectively.

  Intrepid entered the National Theatre Shell Connection Scheme with our newly formed Lewes based youth theatre, in association with local Sussex Downs College, a college specialising in vocational performing arts courses for 16-19year olds.

  On reading Mark Ravenhill’s Citizenship, Alison immediately recognised the quality of the writing and seized the opportunity to work on it. The results were not just great fun for us but also for the whole cast, which were thrilled when they were selected as Regional Finalists at Brighton Dome.

  
• Songlines (2006)
  East Sussex Gifted & Talented Summer Project

  Songlines (2006) East Sussex Gifted & Talented Summer Project

  Songlines was a commission to develop and deliver a Gifted & Talented Summer Project for transition year children spanning year 6 primary into year 7 secondary by Education trust CFBT, working on behalf East Sussex CC.

  The theme we selected was inspired by a Bruce Cahtwin book Songlines, which gave its name to our project, which explored the unseen lines that aboriginals walk on across their Australian wilderness and the now forgotten paths that exist across the south downs, once used by farmers & traders in days gone by.

  Songlines aimed to bring those lines back to life and thereby not just discover old stories and songs but create new ones, created by children living on and around the downs today.

  We selected 30 students identified by their primary or secondary school as gifted in leadership, music, drama, dance or creative writing. Visual artist, Katie Waller, focused on creating physical props for performance, eg smugglers lanterns but also on large pictorial backdrops, eg the creation in parts of a huge Sussex White
  Horse. Musicians, Elle Osborne and Jonathan Hayward, collaborated teaching and learning Sussex folk songs and created collaged soundtracks to link the stories together. Drama & Theatre Practitioners, Samantha, Ana-Luisa, Becky and Alison focused on developing the performance into a through line and journey which travelled from the school drama studio to a performance outdoors. Portraiture DVD work was provided by Ray Warby and Peter Bluck.

  Funded by: East Sussex County Council
  Creative & Teaching Team: Samantha Macefield, Elle Osborne, Becky Kitter, Ana-Luisa de Scrutton, Jonathan Hayward, Katerina Waller, Ray Warby, Peter Bluck and Alison West.

  
• Theatre Centre Productions & Presentations (2004 - 2008)

  Theatre Centre Productions & Presentations (2004 - 2008)

  Adapted and Directed by Alison West

  The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
  Hansel & Gretel from the Brothers Grimm Tales
  Cinderella from the Brothers Grimm Tales
  The Pied Piper of Hamelin from the Brothers Grimm Tales
  Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
  A Squash & A Squeeze by Julia Donaldson
  Isobel’s Noisy Tummy by David McKee
  We’re Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
  Der Struwwelpeter by Henrich Hoffmann
  Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson
  Aladdin from Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights)

  
• Summer School Presentations (2005 – 2008)

  Summer School Presentations (2005 – 2008)

  Devising, Adaptation & Directing led by Alison West

  Stand By Me, Hansel & Gretel & The Princess Bride (2005)
  This is the Baobab Tree (2006)
  Thor and his Hammer/The Vikings (2007)
  Odysseus and the Cyclops (2008)
  The Gruffalo (2008)

  WATCH VIDEO FROM 'THIS IS THE BAOBAB TREE' BELOW CONTAINING INTERVIEWS WITH CAST! (5:17 minutes)

Intrepid’s history spans over 10 years. We began in June 1998 with the aim of creating innovative education based community projects and new works to tour schools, arts centres and theatre venues.

Below is a chronological history of the company’s highlights from our very first project to 2008, just click on an item to find out more. Alternatively, you can browse images from the projects to the right.

It’s been quite a journey. Here’s to the next 10 years!