Ex-offenders and students act out consequences of knife crime
As part of its Youth Choices Week activities, City of Westminster College hosted a powerful drama yesterday performed by a cast of ex-offenders from the Only Connect Creative Arts Company.
Entitled ‘Any Which Way’, this was a short adaptation of an original play by David Watson. The play is about a young man who stabs his best friend after a petty argument. The drama centres on how the young man deals with the action he took and how the consequences alter the course of his life.
All the actors working with Only Connect have been through the criminal justice system – including some with spells in prison – and after the play they spoke frankly to their audience of students about the mistakes they made in their lives and the lessons they have learned. They also discussed how their criminal records have impacted on their ability to put their lives back together and find employment.
The session concluded with a series of interactive workshops in which City of Westminster College students played the roles of characters with a relationship to the main protagonists. This section of the event helped to highlight the wider impact on friends and loved ones of a momentary act of violence.
Feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive. and many felt the play was made more ‘real’ because it was performed by people whose own lives have been shaped by past mistakes.
Performing Arts student Leo Alfonso, 17, said: “I really enjoyed the session. It made me think that people need to realise the consequences of their actions – and how these actions can affect their future.”
His classmate Mark Beddaoui, 17, added: “It was also good to see that people can get a second chance in life after going down the wrong road. You can see that the actors have really learned from their own experiences.”