Project Reports

This vibrant group of 15 committed actors form the performance company that delivers all our projects and public performances.  They are willing to go into any setting and have the courage and dedication to hear stories of the most painful and powerful experiences of people’s lives. The Artistic Directors provide ongoing training, supervision and continuing company development to ensure the skills and safety we offer in all our work are of the highest standard. We explore issues that may arise prior to any engagement with any vulnerable client group or audience.   The Artistic Directors receive monthly supervision to support the level of emotional work.

12 public performances

Our themes: Love, Hate and Other Catastrophes; Leaving what you Love; Dreams; 50 Shades of Red -the expression and suppression of Anger in Totnes and at the Exeter Phoenix Art Centre.

Regular weekly sessions for 35-40 women and their children who are settling into life in Plymouth from 14 different countries. Our sessions create a strong sense of belonging and a safe place to relieve the stresses of everyday life and worries about the families they had to leave behind. A strong, steady community of support has been created. The situation inSudan is causing great distress amongst the women who are unable to contact their families for weeks or months at a time. Many of their families have lost their homes and have family members who have been killed.  This situation has affected how we engage with their needs in this time of crisis, and we adapt our sessions real time.

One of the beautiful things to evolve from our adaptations is the women are singing songs from their countries and drumming too.  One woman said she hadn’t sung since she left Syria, and it was healing and emotional for her to have a place to express songs from her homeland. We have also supported a group of young Sudanese women to sing songs from home and share them with the group.

When the group returned in September, we heard how the race riots had affected them.  Many of them hadn’t left their houses for 10 days as they felt very unsafe.  Some risked going out to shelter at the Mosque and to be with their community.  Windows were smashed and abuse shouted outside the Mosque. Some women had their doors broken down with people shouting abuse outside their homes which terrified them and their young children.  Another woman reported a huge gang of men in her garden at 2am.  One woman said her 4-year-old daughter was begging to leave this country.  In every instance the women expressed their gratitude towards the police who had arrived promptly when called and dispersed the rioters. Everyone commented how helpful and reassuring the police were.  They were also reassured by the counter protests in the city.  We were asked by START and Plymouth City Council to find out and report back what had happened for these families so they could know which way these families could be supported if such things were to happen again.

Many families are being housed in hotels or hostels which means they have no cooking or laundry facilities and have shared bathrooms which puts a lot of stress on the families who are often all living in one room.  Eating every meal out is too expensive so eating a hot meal becomes difficult or impossible as does washing and drying the families’ clothes.

Supporting START students with Playback Theatre to offer a space for their experiences of supporting refugees currently.  They were feeling the strain of working within very stretched services, especially having to send clients out onto the streets with sleeping bags due to a housing crisis in Plymouth. There is no longer any leeway for people with mental health needs to be accommodated either.

Dying Matters Week

RedEarth performed at the end of a day exploring all matters relating to dying.  The performance was deeply moving and supported people who had lost their children and loved ones.  Another ongoing collaboration has grown from this and RedEarth will be offering Playback Theatre in future events. 

Beyond Borders Totnes

RedEarth regularly collaborate with this local refugee support organisation to create performances that resonate with the experiences of refugees.  This year our performance titles were ‘Leaving what you Love’ and “Beginning Again’.  These performances are fund raisers for our refugee project.

Mother Roots of Transition Town Totnes

RedEarth was invited by Mother Roots to Totnes Civic Hall to explore the theme of mothering as central to the community.  Many people attended and engaged deeply with this conversation about the importance of mothering, and told their birth stories.

Act with the Arts Climate Change Festival in Newton Abbot

We supported this festival with a performance titled “How can we help ourselves and each other to face the climate emergency’ and we helped facilitate the evaluation of the festival with all the artists and event organisers using Playback Theatre to reflect on the impact the festival had on the public and what this group could do next to further this cause.

Teignbridge Community Voluntary Services arranged performances for the Ukrainian families who are living in Newton Abbot and Dawlish. The opportunity for people who have fled war and left families behind to share their stories as a community has enormous value to their wellbeing.  To have a place to share their collective grief and their fear for the future as well as their appreciation for being offered refuge in UK is deeply beneficial. Their school aged children were also able to share their stories of leaving their fathers and families in Ukraine and making a new life here.

Hen Do

We delivered a powerful and moving performance for a Hen Party in preparation for marriage and for the upcoming ceremony.

Exeter University Clinical Psychology Under Graduates Final Day

After 15 years offering performances at Plymouth University Department of Clinical Psychology we were invited to facilitate the final day of the Clinical Psychology course in Exeter.  This performance provided much needed care and relief for these graduates about to start jobs in the Care Services.

Dart Playback Theatre Company

Having grown Dart, a community company, since before lockdown, we have supported them to take a pause in their company life due to personal circumstances in the group.  This company has enabled other members of RedEarth to teach and facilitate training, gaining experience and developing their skills. Members of Dart join RedEarth for Playback Theatre Open Rehearsals every term.

We have built a new partnership with Phoenix Rising CIC in Torquay, and we are planning further performances to support women who have left abusive and violent relationships.  The first performance with Phoenix Rising CIC happened in October 2024 and offered relief to women’s experiences of extreme trauma.  Playback Theatre is a very potent and powerful tool when engaging with stories of this level of devastation and trauma.

Domestic Abuse is increasing nationwide, and we are committed to applying our skills to help alleviate suffering.  We are planning to build partnerships with domestic abuse support organisations in both Plymouth and Torbay.

We have identified how important it is to build in time after every performance of this nature to provide post-performance care for our actors who have listened to and served these shocking stories.