WORK
The CLASS WORK TRIBUNE newspaper seen below has been inspired by artist Esther Johnson’s film a ROLE to PLAY and the community she worked with during production.
Part of arts project WORK, the film was made in direct response to the increasing numbers of unemployment and zero hour contracts across the UK. Esther worked with Bolsover Reading Group members, and Freedom Community Project food bank users, volunteers and staff, to explore the realities and struggles of contemporary working life in post-industrial Bolsover, a Derbyshire constituency where coal was once king.
The film experiments with methods of co-creation, radical theatre and oral testimony, with project participant’s storytelling privileged over the questioning/answering scenario of traditional documentary. The title echoes the participatory film process, and also the roles everyone takes in their working and non-working lives.
In the film we hear the lived experiences and dreams of town residents including ex-miner, trade unionist and MP for Bolsover from 1970 – 2019 Dennis Skinner; Serena a performing arts student; Stephen a food bank volunteer/employee, and reading group member; Jeanette a retired primary school teacher and now adult reading group teacher; and Adie a freelance tattoo apprentice and zero-hour employee. Themes include positive/negative work experiences, volunteering, lack of work, zero hour contracts, unemployment, and the barriers that low reading and writing skills have in gaining work.
The voices in this newspaper belong to members of the Bolsover Reading Group and participants in the creation of a ROLE to PLAY.
Part of arts project WORK, the film was made in direct response to the increasing numbers of unemployment and zero hour contracts across the UK. Esther worked with Bolsover Reading Group members, and Freedom Community Project food bank users, volunteers and staff, to explore the realities and struggles of contemporary working life in post-industrial Bolsover, a Derbyshire constituency where coal was once king.
The film experiments with methods of co-creation, radical theatre and oral testimony, with project participant’s storytelling privileged over the questioning/answering scenario of traditional documentary. The title echoes the participatory film process, and also the roles everyone takes in their working and non-working lives.
In the film we hear the lived experiences and dreams of town residents including ex-miner, trade unionist and MP for Bolsover from 1970 – 2019 Dennis Skinner; Serena a performing arts student; Stephen a food bank volunteer/employee, and reading group member; Jeanette a retired primary school teacher and now adult reading group teacher; and Adie a freelance tattoo apprentice and zero-hour employee. Themes include positive/negative work experiences, volunteering, lack of work, zero hour contracts, unemployment, and the barriers that low reading and writing skills have in gaining work.
The voices in this newspaper belong to members of the Bolsover Reading Group and participants in the creation of a ROLE to PLAY.