Let Me Go - RYAN GILMARTIN : AWARD-WINNING WRITER, ACTOR & PRODUCER

RYAN GILMARTIN : AWARD-WINNING WRITER, ACTOR & PRODUCER

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"What is Spalding known for?"

From March-July 2021 I ran three intergenerational socially-engaged workshops at The Men's Shed allotment. I also ran one walking workshop, using the unique landscape as a stimulus to talk about living here.

The workshops committed to examining and elevating the quality of life for residents in Spalding through written & spoken exploration of the themes of a play I was developing.

In my last project in Spalding (This Is Not London) I asked people this question. 90% replied "The Twilight Murders/The Swimming Pool shooting". So initially this subsequent project was about giving an opportunity for people to process these events & how it affected how they saw their town.

Most surprisingly what people spoke about wasn't the murders but the three themes you can see on my notepad:

Belonging. Trust. Belief.

I brought Director Kash Arshad (BBC Radio 4, Bush Theatre) to Spalding and we took what we learnt from the workshops back home to how we developed the play over Zoom.