‘Drugs are 4 Mugs’ is a performance that was constructed by a group of young people who attend the Lobley Hill and Kingsmeadow curriculum programme. This is an alternative programme for young people with behaviour problems. The young people were successful with an application to the Youth Opportunity Fund to use drama to tackle the issues surrounding drugs. All performance material was developed using improvisational methods allowing the young people to actively learn throughout the project. Young people were involved in all aspects of the process from rehearsals, stage management, production roles and music/film production. Using forum theatre and improvisational techniques the young people were able
- Look at why young people take drugs in the first place, so they can identify with the issues and why taking drugs is often a way of coping
- Look at the psychological impact of drugs and how this affects the thinking of a drug taker
- Recognise the difficulties in saying no – including peer pressure
- The link between soft drug taking and how this is likely to lead to harder drugs
- Recognises the difficulties in managing addiction – impacts on own life, family, community
- Look at ways that young people can be supported to manage drug addiction – include the likelihood of failure of first attempts of trying to battle addiction and the probability of failure
- Recognise that drugs are often used recreationally and are seen as a fun past time!
- Include the own experiences of a person who has battled drug addiction and the impact it has had on their life
“Drugs Are 4 Mugs” was pe
rformed to community centres from the 5 areas in Gateshead. Following each performance a question answer workshop was conducted to forum this issue and help others openly discuss the impact it has on people’s lives.
