Soap star joins forces with Hackney theatre charity

Big House Theatre Company members. (L-R): Maggie Norris, Jasmine Crossey, Kareem Dauda, Jason Rock.

Former Coronation Street star Maggie Norris has enlisted the help of comedy actress Kathy Burke to launch a new Hackney-based theatre project for young people who have grown up in care.

At a fundraising launch for the Big House Theatre Company (TBHTC) last month, Kathy Burke showed her serious side as she credited acting with changing her life after her mother died when she was two years old and she was fostered by neighbours.

She told an audience which included a host of television and theatre stars: “Being a kid in care, you are sort of labelled with that and it is very difficult to shake it off, but you can with hard work and determination. I am an example as to what can happen if you are given a chance, a break and a little bit of love.”

Many vulnerable young people who leave care are left to fend for themselves and can end up in jail, or on the streets. The Big House Theatre Company (TBHTC), sees itself as an alternative to the other Big House – the slang term for prison – offering support to care leavers.

The Big House Theatre Company has been founded by former Coronation Street star and theatre director Maggie Norris, who previously worked with ex-offenders and those at risk of prison in a programme that slashed reoffending rates across the capital.

With care leavers making up 27 per cent of the prison population, and 40 per cent of care leavers under 21 in jail, Maggie Norris now wants to “smash” the number of care leavers who become statistics.

“What is frightening is the public don’t understand why these young people get into trouble. But look at what is going on in care leavers’ lives – they come out of care without the basic skills to manage, is it any wonder that large numbers end up in trouble?”, she said.

As a mother herself she reflects: “I have a teenage daughter at university but she needs a huge amount of support aged 19 and she doesn’t have the problems the young people I work with have.”

While there is support for ex-offenders, there are few preventative measures when it comes to care leavers and little focus on helping a group who are at greatest risk in the three years after they leave care.

Due to an unstable upbringing, many care leavers do not have even five GCSEs. The Big House Theatre Company wants to arm the young people with skills including IT and literacy, as well as providing mentoring and psychotherapy.

Largely seen as a middle class pursuit, theatre is a powerful therapeutic tool for tackling emotional and behavioural problems. Ms Norris added: “Theatre is the best way to get a disparate and challenging group of young people excited and engaged. It teaches them to collaborate, cooperate, to build confidence and aspiration, to vent frustration, channel emotion and to hold up a mirror to reflect on who they are, what they want and where they are going.”

TBHTC scripts will be based on life in care and at the launch, a group of care leavers delivered an emotive, high-impact performance after rehearsing for only five days.

Ms Norris said: “For some it is the first time they talked openly about what had gone on, they’d held it inside and you could see it was such a lovely release. To be able to share it with people who knew exactly what they were talking about and they didn’t feel ashamed.”

Student and hopeful future social worker Camilla Ferdinand, 18, spent time in care when she was younger but now lives on her own. Proud and glowing, she said: “I feel really, really good about my performance but I am lucky I have determination and belief in myself. There are so many mess-ups when you are in care, you can lose all your self esteem.

“Before I did this I didn’t go to college. I am not doing this to become a movie star, this helps me – to build up my confidence and hold a conversation with somebody – I never knew how to before and now I talk too much.”

TBHTC offers weekly drop-ins and an eleven-week residential programme. For more information, or to donate, go to Big House Theatre.