Cardboard Citizens is the UK's only homeless people's professional

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

, and the leading practitioner of

Forum Theatre Forum theatre is a type of theatre created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. It is one of the techniques under the umbrella term of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO). This relates to the engagement of spectators influencing and engaging wit ...

and the

Theatre of the Oppressed The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) describes theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1970s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theori ...

methodology in the UK.

History and productions

Cardboard Citizens was founded in 1991 by Adrian Jackson, MBE, in the Cardboard City that had sprung up in what was then called the Bullring in Waterloo. Cardboard Citizens became independent in 1995 and now regularly tours Forum Theatre productions written by playwrights including Kae Tempest (''Glasshouse''), Ali Taylor (''Cathy'') and Sarah Woods (''Meta'') in the UK to theatres, prisons, hostels and community venues. It has also mounted theatre productions in both site-specific locations and as collaborations with other larger organisations, including the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

(RSC) and

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

. These have included ''Mincemeat'', ''A Few Man Fridays'', ''

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

'' and '' Timon of Athens'' (both RSC). In 2016, the company staged a Community Ensemble theatrical staging of Ken Loach's ''

Cathy Come Home "Cathy Come Home" is a 1966 BBC television play about homelessness. It was written by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. A 1998 ''Radio Times'' readers' poll voted it the "best single television drama" and a 200 ...

'' to mark the film's 50th anniversary and the Theatre Company's 25th anniversary. The production starred Elle Payne as Cathy and Denholm Spurr as Reg. In December 2017, Cardboard Citizens' founder, CEO and Artistic Director Adrian Jackson was awarded an MBE for Services to the Arts in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

list.

References

External links

Cardboard Citizens website

''The Guardian'' review of ''Cathy Come Home'' at the Barbican
{{authority control Theatre of the Oppressed Theatre companies in England

History and productions

See also

References

External links