Liverpool theatre company uses Shakespeare tragedy to warn young people about knife crime

A Liverpool Theatre company is using a Shakespearean tragedy to help warn young people about the dangers of knife crime.

‘A Place For Us’ has joined forces with north west charity The JJ Effect, which delivers hard-hitting anti-knife crime presentations to help educate youngsters.

And in five areas where it performs its latest outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet this summer, A Place For Us will offer workshops led by the charity launched by Byron Highton, whose brother Jon-Jo was killed in 2014.

It’s part of a community project called All Are Punished, made possible by a grant awarded by the National Lottery Community Fund.

Kate Allerston, founder and director of A Place For Us, based in Woolton, says:

“We are doing a professional tour of Romeo and Juliet and of course that addresses a lot of the issues about knife crime.

“So we decided to partner up with The JJ Effect to deliver the set of five workshops across the North West which link in to our production.

“They are all aimed at young people because that’s the theme of the play aswell.

“It’s an outdoor production, so it’s not going to schools but to main venues, and with the grant we are also able to offer 30 free tickets to people who come to each of the knife crime workshops to see the play.”

She goes on: “Shakespeare is one of our specialisms and I am a firm believer that Romeo and Juliet is not a love story.  It’s about five people who are murdered within two weeks or whatever it is, and a lot of that is to do with impetuous decisions that are made in the moment, in the heat of the moment, in chaos, and with knives.

“It’s a tale as old as time, but totally relevant to now.

“I was listening to the radio only the other day and there was a fatal stabbing of three young people in the North West, and it could have been the story we are telling. This is a 500-year-old story, but things haven’t changed.

“We need to be talking about it more, that it’s not a game to carry a knife!”

Chris Bastock, Kate’s husband and fellow artistic director of A Place For Us, adds:

“We have always recognised that performing arts and theatre drama has got a real power to impact people, so when you look at having something and someone as impactful as Byron from The JJ Effect put alongside a play which has its own emotions, it seems appropriate to weave those two together.

“It feels like there’s a social responsibility to do that.”

As well as a professional theatre company, A Place For Us is a community interest company which runs an award-winning theatre school, providing training and opportunities for young people, as well as community programmes and holiday theatre clubs.

While some might argue that the job of a theatre company is to entertain rather than educate Chris says:

“I think nowadays it’s impossible to separate those two things.  There’s so much power in drama and especially because we are involved in that ‘through process’ right from first access to professional.”

“And we work with young people,” continues Kate who, like Chris, has 35 years’ experience in the performing arts industry. “We see the horrors of what happens with violence, and we can’t just tell a story about five young people being stabbed to death without actually saying maybe there’s something else we can do here.

“You can just be entertained. You don’t have to come to a workshop. But if you are coming to the workshop and you have got an interest in it or you’ve got a concern, maybe about one of your family members, then you can see the show and see what happens and think ‘things haven’t changed that much have they?’.

“But then you can ask, well what do we do about that, or maybe it’s just a conversation that we start having?”

Romeo and Juliet will be performed in Runcorn, Widnes, Liverpool, Knowsley – at Shakespeare North Playhouse – and Bolton alone and as a double bill with Macbeth (with accessible abridged versions) from the end of June, with the workshops taking place in communities before. The dates are still to be finalised.

The plays will be performed alone and as a double bill in other areas too.

“What we are doing will add an edge or an opportunity to explore the themes around the play,” says Kate.

To find out more about Romeo and Juliet or A Place For Us, go to their website  www.placeforus.org.uk or see their posts on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok (@aplaceforuscic).

For more information about The JJ Effect the website.

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