SEEN/HEARD

How do you want to be seen? How do you want to be heard?

This project, developed in partnership with St Petrocs, and commissioned by Wildworks as part of their Hello Stranger project welcomed anyone experiencing or having previously experienced homelessness to share their life stories and participate in creative workshops.

Seen/Heard involved a series of half day and full day workshops with co-creating participants – exploring theatre, song composition and singing, movement, rhythm and storytelling – and culminated in a performative meal including stories, poetry and song – tender and rowdy, urgent and hopeful – on Friday 24th May at Chapter House, Truro Cathedral. Shared by the audience and cast, the performative meal combined five themed courses of food (created by OST Eatery, Truro) with moments of beauty, a menu of stories, a difficult choice or two and extra helpings of rhythm and song, all created by the participants.

Along with the performance we also produced audio in which the co-creators’ life stories are interwoven with their creative writing and songs – some of these are available to listen to on the Wildworks website here https://wildworks.org.uk/projects/seen-heard/ and they are also on the St Petrocs YouTube channel. Shorter compilation versions were recorded onto cassette and either set free with walkmans for a potential journey round Cornwall or used by St Petrocs at their stand at the Royal Cornwall Show.

This project had a significant positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing and confidence of the co-creating participants, one of whom has now gone on to deliver a tour of piano concerts around Cornwall as the Nightchurch Pianist raising money for homelessness charities. Audiences also commented on the impact the performance had on them in relation to meeting and hearing the stories of people who are often 'unheard and overlooked'.

• https://youtu.be/hiybMaAWGv8?si=-FFUtRV4...
• https://youtu.be/rAxb3ymnNN8?si=TDNRw60x...