Looking Forward
A unique participatory pilot project, Looking Forward involved working with nine young adults who have experienced cancer, allowing them to explore their own experiences of life beyond a diagnosis and offering a creative toolkit to find a language for the company’s experiences.
Looking Forward highlighted some of the key themes of life beyond a diagnosis for our young group. With poetry around language of cancer, movement pieces inspired by the uncomfortable longing for the institutional safety net & our identity after cancer, this performance sparked a conversation that contrasts the narrative that cancer finishes after treatment.
The participatory project culminated in 2 sold out performances at Battersea Arts Centre and a performance to 200 young cancer patients at Teenage Cancer Trust’s annual conference Find Your Sense Of Tumour.
The pilot was directed by Grace Gibson & Toby Peach and funded by Arts Council England, Teenage Cancer Trust, Trekstock & Unity Theatre.
What people said
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It made my confidence sky rocket…really transformational.
Participant
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It’s been a life changing experience… I’m more comfortable with my cancer…and have more confidence to address things I wasn’t able to address earlier on.
Participant
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Made me more confident in speaking about cancer and accepting I did a lot of looking normal.
Participant
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Changed my perception of how alone I was - proved to me I wasn’t alone in feeling that.
Participant
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Most excellent performance by the young cast of looking forward tackling some of the invisible nonspoken impacts of cancer and it’s treatment on young people.
Lorna Fern, Researcher into Young Person Cancer Care
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After seeing the show my friend said to me “I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you. I didn’t understand that’s what you were going through” and that’s all I’ve ever wanted…to be heard and taken seriously.
Participant
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This show is so honest, informative, emotive and is truly inspiring hearing the real stories of young adults looking forward after their cancer treatment. A must for any healthcare professional to see!
Sinead Cope, Maggie’s London West
Centre Head.
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For me, theatre is at its very best when it leaves the audience seeing the world in a slightly different way than when they first entered the space. Looking Forward certainly achieves this and has shaped my thinking and understanding of the world in which we live.
Rob Lehmann, Director of Young Lyric