Guest Blog: Boundless Theatre's Artistic Director Rob Drummer On Supporting Young People

Everything has changed. The theatre industry is fighting for its survival, buckling under the immense pressure of Covid-19, and needs Government support to survive. Systemic racism is still killing Black people and we witness as false idols are pulled from their plinths. The lives of young people are at risk and we must educate ourselves, learn empathy and connect if we are to solve a mental health crisis exacerbated by enforced isolation. If young people are our future, then we must do better by them now.

At Boundless, we haven't stopped. We work with and for young adults aged 15-25 and, as the reality of the pandemic hit, like so many theatre companies we did a lot of soul searching about what our role was now and for the future. We don't have a building; our income streams are diverse, and we are an Arts Council England NPO, meaning we receive a regular grant that has been a lifeline through these difficult weeks. We've lost significant income; we're fighting hard to survive, and all of our plans have changed but right now we are able to keep going. We decided not to furlough our team and instead committed to delivering differently so that we could reach and support as many young people as our resources allow.

The rites of passage for teenagers and young adults matter. The transition from school to college, college to university, graduations, first loves and lazy summers before emerging in to the workplace are the stuff of growing up and are precious, important moments in a life. Covid-19 has disrupted all of these. For many more Black young people, the murder of George Floyd has yet again proven that society is not equal, racism still kills and that Black Lives Matter. We must all do better. The world is brutal, the future doesn't feel so bright and young people are hurting. We must do all we can to support them.

We will play our part and we will listen as well as act and, right now, the whole team are speaking to any and all young people who need to be heard. We are supporting a freelance task force to ensure the voice of early career workers in the theatre sector have a platform. We are welcoming over 40 school students on to digital work experience later this month and scheduling university placements for later in the year to continue giving valuable career support. We believe that our resources need to flow to people and so are not renewing our office lease, cutting back on every overhead we can and redistributing the money we have to more paid work and opportunities.

Our artistic programme is adapting, and over the summer we are experimenting with telephone theatre to connect teenagers in Spalding, Peterborough, Bermondsey and Oldham. We Will Probably Never Meet is the creation of Ryan Gilmartin and James Monaghan, who are fearless artists passionate about creating the best work for young adults. Right now, connecting with your peers, sharing in creativity and building community is important; we aim to do more of it.

We are still commissioning, working with artists to learn how theatre can happen in a socially distant world and how what we make can be better, more relevant and authentic for diverse communities of young people. We will platform young voices and are currently working with six teenage writers who are contributing to our website with conversation-starting ideas pieces. Alongside this work, we are pushing forwards with new forms of digital work - including fiction podcasts after the huge success of our first season of Radio Elusia by Nina Segal this spring.

We exist to ensure there are meaningful pathways in to the theatre industry for young people and, for as long as we are able, we want to see more young people welcomed into an industry that is better. This moment of deep hurt, the powerful conversations around the trauma faced by so many and the very real danger of a smaller and less-open industry post-this current public health crisis, is important. I encourage everyone to prioritise young adults now in your thinking, engage in conversations and commit to an action that welcomes teenagers and young people in to the heart of any recovery planning. We are fighting for the soul and the sustainability of theatre in the UK, and we owe it to young people to do more, listen, act and be better.

Find out more about Boundless Theatre here

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