Blog

18.07.2013

Audience Engagement, Bradford

With so much talk of ‘who sees art’ lately, I wanted to write about Common Wealth’s mission statement, ‘to make theatre for people who don’t […]

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Did you know that Joe Strummer from The Clash once

Did you know that Joe Strummer from The Clash once worked as a grave digger at St Woolos Cemetery in Newport?

Or that the last people to be sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered in England & Wales were Chartists who had led the Newport Rising?

Huge thank you to @newportrising for hosting us yesterday for a radical tour of Newport. It felt really powerful to explore the history beneath our feet.

It was great to play with AR (augmented reality) in an unstructured way, taking it to the streets of Newport!

We're excited to explore other ways that AR can be used in immersive arts projects.

Common Wealth’s team in Cardiff are supported by

Common Wealth’s team in Cardiff are supported by our Sounding Board, working class people from across South Wales who are interested in art and social change. We’re really proud of our relationship with the Sounding Board; we see ourselves as a movement of people pushing for change. In that spirit, we’re so excited to have recruited two brilliant new Sounding Board members: Jesse Osei and Hayat Mohamed.

Jesse Osei is studying for his Masters in Computer Science, and also works as a model. He’s interested in sound system culture and building a sound system in Llanrumney, where Common Wealth’s team in Cardiff is based. Jesse is also passionate about art, design, sketching and design technology.

Hayat Mohamed works as a teaching assistant at Eastern High School and also works with the Together Trust and the Sudanese Community in East Cardiff, focusing on young people and addressing community needs. Hayat loves art, design, media, culture and bringing different people together to benefit the future of society. Hayat’s dream is to have a community centre that is a space for all to be together and a home for the Sudanese community.

We’re really excited to be welcoming Jesse and Hayat to our team!

Booking opens for our extra Posh Club at 10am toda

Booking opens for our extra Posh Club at 10am today! To book call 07983883313 or visit https://theposhclub.co.uk/clubs/cardiff.

We've got some real Christmas crackers coming to perform for you, and it's about time we made some introductions...

💃🏾 Dame Shirley Classy - This Dame doesn't need an introduction! Our wonderful host will be getting the party started at both of our bumper Winter Posh Clubs.

🕺🏿 @azara.is.azara - And now, ladies and gentlemen, heeeeeeeere's Grace! Azara will be joining us from London, where they are part of the Duckie family. You better pull up to the bumper to see their brilliant Grace Jones act on both 5 & 6 December.

🎷50 Shêds o Lleucu Llwyd - What's more Christmassy than a brass band? 10 piece big band outfit 50 Shêds o Lleucu Llwyd will be joining us on 5 December.

🎸 The Saint Melonians After a hit turn at the Posh Club Boutique, skiffle band The Saint Melonians are returning on Friday 6 December.

🪚 @franceswidow - We're so excited to welcome international sideshow circus artist Frances Widow to the heart of St Mellons on 6 December.

💃 @samhickmanmusic - She writes her own songs! She plays her own instruments! She makes her own costumes! Cardiff's own Sam Hickman will be bringing her sexy rude harp concert to Posh Club on 6 December.

We're expecting our phone lines to be busy from 10am, so get in quick and please be patient with us!

Don't forget....we're also looking for volunteers. If you want to experience the fun of Posh Club from a whole new angle, we'd love to take you behind the scenes and help you make the day special for all our guests.

Cardiff! Are you ready to get even posher?! We kn

Cardiff! Are you ready to get even posher?!

We know our Winter Posh Club sold out ridiculously fast, and some of our Posh friends were disappointed by not getting their hands on tickets. We're absolutely thrilled to say that we've been able to add an extra date and will now be doing an extra Cardiff Posh Club on 6th December. We've booked some fabulous acts and will be revealing exactly who they are on Thursday when booking opens.

Our extra Posh Club will be from 12pm - 3pm at the Hub in St Mellons.

Booking will open at 10am on Thursday 21st November. Call 07983883313 or book online at https://theposhclub.co.uk/clubs/cardiff.

Huge thanks to @duckievauxhall and our St Mellons hub team @central_library_hub, our volunteers and everyone else who has helped us make this happen!

We had a gorgeous creative week last week making m

We had a gorgeous creative week last week making magic with some of our favourite collaborators for our Right/s R&D! Exploring music video aesthetics, magic tricks, dream set designs and starting points for telling authentic stories!

Big thank you @kalasangam_arts_centre for the space and to our incredible creative and technical teams for their energy, ideas and expertise! ✨

SHOUT OUT TO OUR WORKING CLASS ACTORS: Chifaa, Tha

SHOUT OUT TO OUR WORKING CLASS ACTORS: Chifaa, Thaer and Kate!

Our cast of How to Build a Town, who held & shared the words of our East Cardiff neighbourhood with integrity, care and authenticity. They co-edited the script, met people we interviewed and communicated to our audiences the power of working-class people, our needs, and future possibilities.

In Summer 2024 we worked closely with Cardiff University to tell the story of our East Cardiff neighbourhood through a live performance/ conversation between residents & workers & decision makers.

St Mellons, and some of our neighbouring areas like Trowbridge, regularly rank as some of the most deprived places in Wales. In the media it seems like East Cardiff is either being talked-down or ignored. Despite this, St Mellons has a rich history and is much-loved by residents for our green spaces, abundant birdsong and warm atmosphere.

We worked with Patrick Jones to interview a range of people who would tell us about the neighbourhood. We wanted to know what they loved, how it feels, what's missing and what the future could be. Patrick’s writing took us all the way from the ground to the cosmos!

Our interviews took place the week after the riots across the UK which left an undercurrent of uncertainty and hostility. Our interviews were complex and sometimes hard to hear. What we thought we knew was challenged. It is important to bear witness to people's experiences, and we were glad to have Patrick to capture them faithfully.

On the evening we had 60+ people turn up. Over 80% were local to the area. Thaer, Kate and Chifaa performed scenes based on the stories we heard, and the audience participated in creative tasks designed to capture their responses to what they’d seen.

These conversations brought people in contact with decision makers in Cardiff, seated together around tables in our cosy, homely world created by @evewilson.design We aimed to inspire the audience to think about possibility and change. Change is possible through collaboration. It takes us all.

Yesterday, we spent the day in Port Talbot, catchi

Yesterday, we spent the day in Port Talbot, catching up with some of the brilliant people we worked with on We're Still Here.

Returning to Port Talbot after 8 years was poignant. Our show, 'We're Still Here,' reflected the town's struggle with the threat of steelworks closure. To see this threat now a reality was a stark reminder of how capitalism operates, without care for anyone or anything.

We visited the site where we made the show, now a recycling yard, paid respects at Dic Penderyn's grave, and were reminded of the resilience and power of Welsh activism, past & present.

O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd
Cofiwch Dryweryn

Over the past few months, we have worked with our

Over the past few months, we have worked with our incredible partners @bradfordcravenhcp @healthyminds.bdc and @girlington_community_centre on our new show Still Waiting, bringing our community together to talk about mental health, stigma and barriers, experiences of services, and most importantly solutions, alternatives and ways forward with and for our community.

We talked, sang, danced, shouted, cooked, laughed, ate together and made our demands.

We need to keep listening to each other, hold space for others in our community and not be afraid to reach out if you're struggling. Our friends over at @healthyminds.bdc have some amazing resources on their socials and website for those who may be looking for support ✨

Audition week is here!! 💥💥 This week we're

Audition week is here!! 💥💥

This week we're gunna be all over Bradford hosting auditions for our new show RIGHT/S which is gunna be one of our biggest and most exciting shows to date as part of @bradford_2025

There's workshop auditions in loads of different BD postcodes and we have some in the morning, afternoon and evenings!

You don't have to prepare anything, you only have to attend one audition but we do want to have you for the whole session!

We're looking for:
💥 Young people aged 16-30, NO ACTING EXPERIENCE NEEDED
💥 People who make or love music - no matter the genre! Djs, MCs, bands, singers, musicians, newcomers and established artists are all welcome!
💥 People with opinions or who can talk about politics, youth culture, human rights or criminal justice.

All opportunities are paid £4k for main cast, £1.4k for supporting cast!

Scroll find out times/dates!
Share with your networks, help us spread the word!

See you this week Bradford 📢📢📢

Calling all compelling storytellers! 📢📢 Com

Calling all compelling storytellers! 📢📢

Common Wealth are looking for a P-T Comms Associate (Bradford) to help share the work of the company.

Deadline Mon 28 Oct, more details and how to apply via link in bio or https://commonwealththeatre.co.uk/common-wealth-about-us/jobs/

We love these photographs taken by @jonpountney a

We love these photographs taken by
@jonpountney at the last Posh Club. They perfectly capture the joy and laughter at our showbiz afternoon tea.

Booking for our Christmas Posh Club opens 5th November, and we're back for our Boutique on 7th November with a fantastic guest act.

We've been reflecting on our wonderful partnership

We've been reflecting on our wonderful partnerships with organisations outside of the arts sector including our pals over at @bradfordcravenhcp who are the brains behind our upcoming show Still Waiting being performed at @girlington_community_centre next week!

Give it a read over on the link in our bio and get in touch with us to dream up our next brilliant partnership project ✨✨✨

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