- Place
"We don't want anymore Roll Out The Barrel!"
(A Proper St Helens Knees Up participant - Day 1 2016)
Eggs Collective worked with older residents at three St Helens housing schemes to create a brand new piece of theatre and a sell-out performance at The Citadel.
Residents across the three schemes, managed by Your Housing and Torus (then Helena Housing), took part in workshops from January - March 2016, where they came together weekly to explore the history, community and their experiences of St Helens past and to look towards the future. The residents didn't want the usual trip down memory lane and on the very first session the sentiment was clear "We don't want any more Roll Out The Barrell!"
Together Eggs Collective and the residents devised unique comedy sketches based on St Helens heroes like Johnny Vegas, Sir Thomas Beecham and Bernie Clifton. They wrote original songs about their communities and what it is like to live in St Helens and practiced poetry and theatre that had been written by some of the participants. They shared costumes and ideas over many cups of tea.
The six week long project celebrated people's stories and memories of the town throughout and worked towards a celebratory event at The Citadel on 13th March. The final event saw friends, family and fans come together to watch the participants perform their original works, with all the nostalgia of the social clubs. Pimmies Pies for all, a cockle man (giving out foam shrimp sweets) and Eggs Collective comparing the entertainment.
In Partnership with
Helena Partnerships was established in 2002, when they took over around 14,400 homes from St Helens Council and is the largest housing partnership in St Helens
Part of St Helens Library Services, St.Helens Council Arts Service supports the development of all art forms including music, dance, drama, creative writing, new media, visual and public art.
Free