As a participatory theatre company of Sanctuary, we aim to be a place of welcome and provide people who were forced to flee their homes with a platform to express themselves and be heard, as well as an opportunity to change the negative narrative often associated with refugees.
​
Our aims define the form of our work.
- Mixed cast involving refugee communities and local people to fight isolation & promote social inclusion beyond our shows and workshops.
- Devising. A re-empowering process core to our ethos. Our concept: their story, their show. Every production is co-created with our performers, giving them the freedom to define what they need to talk about.
- Physical theatre, visual poetry & clowning. These theatre forms use body language and are therefore more accessible to non-native English speakers. Besides, we believe that visual poetry and clowning are both an artistic expression form and a healing process. They transform. They turn horror into beauty and laughter. They extricate the man from the traumatic experience sticking to his skin like a new imprinted identity. Visual poetry and clowning celebrate his talent and his humanity.
"The boat journey". - Borderline -
VISUAL POETRY
Expression is one of the most important human needs, but yet such a difficult one to achieve especially when language barrier or trauma are involved. They can make words really hard to find.
​
As a theatre company, we developed a technique that we called Visual Poetry to help people raise awareness about what they went through. It's an aesthetic approach that can convey the violence of the trauma whilst still celebrating the beauty and talent of the affected person. This technique, involving creating visual tableaux, is coming from a therapeutic practice called "family constellation" that Sophie Besse, our Artistic Director, picked up from her training in family therapy. Our Visual Poetry approach also has some common grounds with Theatre of the Oppressed's "Image Theatre" except that, at PSYCHEdelight's, we push the artistic side of the creation process using lights, symbolic images, music and costumes. It is key for us to transform a traumatic memory into a piece of art as aesthetic generates pride, improves self-esteem and helps the creator get a sense of self back, away from the horror of the trauma they experienced.
The Haunted house in "Welcome To The UK"'s funfair. Debby raising awareness about women trafficking organised by husbands.
Pigs queuing outside the haunted house attraction.
- Welcome To The UK -
Detention centres in the UK -Welcome To The UK -
more visual poetry from our theatre retreats in France
"How does it feel with your best friend?" A game where you are not allowed to talk and can only use the cello to answer.
Work installation as part of our "Too Much" exhibition.
CLOWNING
Why clowning? Clown is Tragedy's poetic little flatmate except he won't generate pity or fear but laughter, endearment and admiration. Clown can't resist a ratty shoe or a broken heart: He loves upcycling trauma. He is a proper healer.
Another important factor: Clown is very helpful at raising awareness as he conveys horror with laughter and therefore makes it digestible (but not less horrible) for our audiences. This seems quite essential for us as, in these post-Covid times, audiences often struggle with their own mental health issues and tend to stay away from the news and potentially distressing shows.
​
Also, Clowning is not only a final product, it's a process: Laughter and humour will flow throughout the co-creation time and will be precious to bond a group, even a very diverse one.
Playfulness and dark humour are universal and a great support when touching very painful devising material. Laughter can release emotions just as well as tears and, in many stories we heard, humour was the last rescuer when all was left was despair.
When it comes to creating a show, just like visual poetry, clowning helps rehumanise people by dissociating the man from the horror he experienced. Clowns celebrate our humanity, our vulnerability and our silliness of course. With clowning people are not "refugees" anymore but very funny lads who had the guts to create a comedy about their tragedy. We believe this is what art and healing are about: Transformation.
​
"I had enough sadness. I love making people laugh, it makes me feel better." Enayat. 17y. Afghanistan
The frozen refugee after crossing the channel on a refrigerated lorry. - Borderline -
A "very helpful" Mary Poppins welcomes a refugee at her home after he was made homeless at the end of his 28 days. - Welcome to the UK -