World Premiere of FEEL ME Comes to Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre

What makes us feel for another person? Following extensive research and development, the UK’s leading devising verbatim theatre company brings the world premiere of Feel Me to Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre as part of a national tour.

An interrogation of empathy which actively measures audiences’ engagement with the theme during the show, Feel Me can be seen at the SJT on 27 and 28 February.

Using a mixture of live performance, film, projection, dance and interactive elements, it explores the different lenses through which we are told, and connect to, stories we hear and read about. Worlds unfold from backpacks, and tents are constructed and dismantled again, each scene and location temporary, like a transient teenager in search of safety, acceptance and a new place to call home.

Paper Birds co-founder and co-director Jemma McDonnell says: “The idea for Feel Me started in 2015 when I saw a picture of a three-year-old boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach. It was a picture I couldn't get out of my mind; there was something in that horrifying viral image that kept making me return to the concept of empathy and what it means to feel for another. Jump forward five years and sat in lockdown with my own small children to take care of, I decided to revisit this idea.”

Feel Me seeks real world impact and action and achieves it with help from modern technology: as active participants within the show, audiences are gently and anonymously asked to share how they feel about the story they are witnessing at different moments using their phones, and to consider who they connect with, who they feel empathy for, and why.

The data gathered will be measured using innovative software accessed by the audience during the show in a series of collaborative ‘check-in’ moments, with results creatively shared live as part of the performance. Working with academics from Essex University, the company uses mobile phones to measure the impact Feel Me has had on audiences and their immediate empathy levels as well as post-show.

Jemma says: “In 2021, we devised a multi-artform digital project for 14-25-year-olds, The School of Hope, during which we worked with nine partner organisations in five countries over three continents to really begin to interrogate who we care for and who we don’t, and why that might be.

“Working with numerous cohorts of young artists and creatives on this subject matter in digital and hybrid formats over the lengthy R&D period that followed, our initial findings made us feel compelled and excited to explore within the show not only the stories we hear, but the way we often receive these stories via tech, most commonly our phones. We decided there was a real opportunity to create an interactive element that allowed audiences to share how they felt about the story that was unfolding in front of them. This interactive element has proved to be a massive challenge, but one, as a new NPO and company wholly committed to giving platforms, hearing voices and starting conversations, we were determined to pursue.

“I am really proud of what we have made, as empathy is about connection and Feel Me allows hundreds of audience members to have a voice, to see and hear how their community around them is also feeling, and most importantly to connect.”

Known for their exceptional work with and for young people, The Paper Birds put together a creative team of emerging artists under 30 years old to work on Feel Me, including, among others, Shanice Sewell (Assistant Director), Imogen Melhuish (Designer), Fraser Owen (Sound & Music Design) and the cast of Lil McGibbon, Daz Scott and Kiren Virdee.

The company has also worked with five Youth Creative Councils – steering groups made up of young people aged 13 to 25 years old, some of whom with a lived experience of forced displacement. They have been invited to share their thoughts and opinions on the show as it went through the devising process and rehearsals.

Feel Me was made in partnership with Theatre Centre, and is a co-production with New Wolsey Theatre. Supported by Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja (Indonesia) and The Point Eastleigh.

Feel Me can be seen at the SJT at 7.30pm on Tuesday 27 February and at 1.30pm on Wednesday 28 February. Tickets are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com

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