In this collaboration with the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, we worked alongside a creative team - Amahra Spence (writer), Jen Davis (director & dramaturg), and Joe Rose (producer). It features a brand new play After Preston commissioned by the University of Warwick and the Belgrade Theatre, performed to an invited audience on Friday 1st December 2023. After Preston takes some of the themes in our research data and explores them through a dramatic performance which questions the kinds of relationships that different communities have with the police and ultimately, who or what keeps us safe. This builds on our findings around the power of arts and culture to provide a voice to the seldom heard, confronting us with sometimes uncomfortable truths; and as a collaborative endeavour with the potential to bring together groups who might otherwise be in opposition. In the context of low levels of trust in the police among young people, women and girls, and people of colour, working together through arts and culture has the potential to challenge stereotypes and build trust and confidence. This dramatic work explores the impact this can have on individual lives as both police and policed see the 'human' behind the stereotype, as well as the challenges in building new relationships and shifting entrenched cultures.

With an audience of young people, police, policymakers, community organisations, creatives and academics, the performance was followed by extensive further discussion and provocations for an agenda for change. This project partnership will continue to develop, with further work with young audiences in 2024.

After Preston - ProgrammeLink opens in a new window

In addition to the performance on 1st December 2023, there were further ways to explore these issues: through a photographic exhibition from Kay Rufai's Barriers to Bridges project, produced as artist in residence with West Midlands Police; bespoke workshops for young people in the weeks leading up to the performance; and workshops on the day of the performance, centring on themes of safety, police and criminal justice.

Our creative partners

Amahra Spence, writer, whose previous works include Abuelo (Birmingham REP); Concubine (Birmingham REP); Utopia (Theatre Absolute) and Architectures of Abolition (2022). Amahra is also founding director of MAIA, an organisation engaging culture as a strategy to build community infrastructure oriented towards liberation, and organiser of Land Black, a spatial practice and speculative design studio.

Jen Davis, director & dramaturg, who has directed new writing in a variety of contexts for the Hampstead Theatre, RSC, Birmingham REP, Belgrade Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, Assembly Venues, Midlands Art Centre, Women & Theatre, VAULT Festival, King’s Head Theatre, BOLDtext and Streetwise Opera.

Joe Rose, producer, who is a Creative Producer from the Midlands. He is the Interim Producer at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, as well working with organisations like the Royal Shakespeare Company and Jerwood Arts as a freelance producer and changemaker. He is a Weston Jerwood Fellow, and is supported by the Stage One.

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Images from the production (photographer Nicola Young).