Napkin poetry.

All we got is time.

“All we got is time”…
is what KB says about his life spent living on the street. We’ve all been led to believe that time controls, is a teacher, a healer and is for most - money. Time is no doubt a precious commodity and something greatly lacking in all sectors of society... well, except for amongst the homeless.

So what do a bunch of gentleman do with nothing but the shoes on their feet and all the time in the world?

Answer: Nobody knows really... and that's what bothered me most - the ignorance - the disconnection from a sector of society so painfully evident to us all. 

So i was curious - that's all. I was curious to understand these people, to hear their stories, to connect. From what i know about theatre it's been the only real place that i've known with the power to connect and transport a group of strangers to one brief moment of shared reality. I felt like that was maybe all we needed - just a moment in time where we were all seeing the same thing. It's one of the only art forms able to express, explore and communicate the imagination in real time. Theatre transports, transforms and most importantly - connects people to empathy; a psychological phenomenon detrimental to social development. 

Imagine a group of homeless men inquiring into a space that really listened and required nothing from them but what they carried in their hands, hearts and head.

I originally got the idea for this project a while back after reading an article about an advertising company who wanted to use homeless men as vehicles for wi-fi hotspots. I immediately thought it was brilliant – not because it wanted to use human bodies as advertising space but that the homeless would become points of connection for millions across the world. It's a mad idea and carries the DNA of what our lives are guided and punctuated by - Irony. 

So that's where i thought to take a more creative and maybe more ethical spin on the whole thing by opening up a space within which the homeless could reach out to their community - on their terms, conditions and expressions. 

It's been four weeks since the start of the project and since then we've been exploring basic theatre principles, engaging with the body and making it work for the imagination. We've started discussing story structure and the importance of character development. Most recently, we've scheduled to see Hayani at the Market theatre on the 18th of September. This will be the first time any one of them has been to the theatre. 

It's been an incredibly challenging past few weeks - with me having little time to properly prepare for our workshops and for them, to travel the distances they have to, to commit to a project that promises them nothing but the simple act of recreation. 

From the little time i've spent with these men, i've been inspired by their want and need to connect with something much greater than themselves - something that really hears, see's and understands. I'm not sure what that something is, where it is - or if it even exists. But i do think it's something worth imagining first. So watch this space.