Artistic Directors Liz Fitzgerald-Taylor & Lisa O'Hanlon

SO MANY WORDS

For many years Liz & Lisa have been working with SO MANY WORDS - an inclusive theatre company for young people and adults with learning disabilities based in Salford.  Liz was Artistic Director for the Company for five years, with Lisa taking on the role of Outreach Director.

Together Liz & Lisa have directed numerous productions for So Many Words and even took the group to Poland to perform JACK IN THE BOX at the Tarnobrzeg Arts Centre as part of the first ever inclusive theatre festival for young people. Liz sat on the steering committee for the festival and No Nonsense Theatre continues to enjoy touring their own work throughout Poland with regular visits to Tarnobrzeg.

Below - a selection of photographs taken during the creation of JACK IN THE BOX.  The young people's designs are realised with the help of artist Adela Jones with puppets made by Peter Pamphlett, directed by Liz Fitzgerald-Taylor and performed by Lisa O'Hanlon, Jamie Patterson and the members of So Many Words.

BEAUTIFUL BORNHOLM

The island of Bornholm lies in the Baltic 47 km/23 mi off the Swedish coast and about 150 km/95mi from Copenhagen. In September 2009 No Nonsense Theatre attended a Medieval Arts Festival and ran a series of mask making workshops for children and young people living on this beautiful island.

YOUTH CONSULTATION 2006 - 2007

No Nonsense worked in partnership with The Octagon Theatre, Bolton and Head of Activ8 Caroline brader, exploring current and previous Theatre and Arts provision for young people with learning disabilities at the Octagon Theatre.  No NOnsense consulted with young people and their support agencies to create a series of recommendations for the long term development and improvement of this provision.  Work began in June 2006, with a final report presented to the senior management team in January 2007.

ACT OUT CONSULTANCY, SUPPORTING PEOPLE, GREATER MANCHESTER 2006

No Nonsense worked closely with Oldham Theatre Workshop and was commissioned to write and perform a piece of work for the ACT OUT conference hosted by "Supporting People."  The Company performed two pieces of work dealing with issues pertinent to young and elderly service users.  During each performance audience members were encouraged to take an interactive role - enabling key workers from Supporting People North West to gather views on key areas relating to the needs of people in the Salford area.

FORUM THEATRE PRODUCTION/COUNCIL STAFF TRAINING 2006

May 2006 saw No Nonsense Theatre working alongside Oldham Theatre Workshop's young actors on a forum theatre piece, CHANGES directed by Craig Harris.  The performance was used as part of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council's staff training and development programme.