By Miriam Mayet.
The sessions with “Humanising the Zoom Room” have been an inspiring and enriching
experience. I have been privileged to hear the journeys of artists/creatives from South Africa
and Wales. The willingness to be open and share from the heart has truly been refreshing
and heart-warming. I have a better understanding of the different communities and
different cultures, and yet, finding the commonalities between Wales and South Africa
always intrigues and surprises me. Each session has left me with more insight and a
concrete understanding of the challenges within children’s theatre.
The moments when an artist/creative in the Room shares their work and I see the happiness and joy of the children
watching it, my heart is filled with joy itself. I found myself looking over my own work and
seeing what I need to add and expand on to be more inclusive with my audience. I have
made notes that I will keep forever of what is exclusive and how to avoid it. The level of
commitment and passion I encountered in the Room, leaves me inspired and convinced that
the future of children’s theatre has strong advocates. When anyone shares their story in the
room, I feel a rush of excitement and inspiration to continue expanding on my own work.
This experience has been one I know will play on my mind every time I create work, alone or
with other artists/creatives.
I have asked Ceri, one of the many amazing people I’ve met through this process, to add a
bit of her experience as someone from Wales. Thank you, Ceri, for being willing to help me
out with this Blog post!
First, diolch yn fawr iawn (thank-you very much), Miriam, for the invitation to write this blog
with you. When you speak of the Room, I feel the same energy as you, that commitment
and passion – it is a room full of warmth. I feel close to the group, even though most of us,
as members, have never met in person, and I find the individuals within the group to be
honest, sensitive, open, and as you mentioned Miriam, very, very inspiring.
The presentations from members of the group, as well as conversations that we’ve shared in
break-out rooms, as well as presentations from guest speakers, as well as the exercises the
team have guided us through, have really opened my mind, and made me think in new
ways; I’m learning all the time. So many topics have been covered, and a multi-linguistic
awareness, in many, many forms, has played a major part in the way we talk about and
think about these topics. As we move on now to co-creating together in the sessions, I feel
humbled to be improvising and playing with the members of the Room, and I feel very
excited about what might come next. I’d like to say thank-you to everyone who’s making
this happen.
