This March, Tender welcomed some of the biggest names from stage and screen to explore the power of storytelling in a special panel event.
Chaired by Susie McDonald MBE, the panel included Tender Ambassadors Jodie Whittaker (Toxic Town) and Toby Jones (Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office), joined Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne and producer Jo Johnson to explore the real world impact of series like these.
Among the Tender supporters and campaigners in attendance was Daisy Douglas, Head of Children and Young People’s Services at Tender.
Here, Daisy reflects on this vital conversation, and the role storytelling plays in creating a better future:
For me, storytelling means two things
I feel storytelling in two ways. First of all, it unlocks worlds that are different to mine, worlds that educate me, support my curiosity and unlock empathy.
Secondly, storytelling allows me to walk alongside stories that echo my experiences. They help me feel less alone or isolated in my feelings and experiences.
Both are beautiful.
Good storytelling asks questions
I was first introduced to Tender when I was working as an actor, and playing a victim/survivor in a piece of forum theatre about gendered violence. The perpetrator in the piece was a police officer and the play explored how we often ignore, collude, and permeate attitudes and systems that tolerate this kind of abuse.
I had not been part of forum theatre before. Like all good storytelling it asked questions and intentionally provoked a response; a call to action. Tender facilitated with kindness and curiosity, actively challenging attitudes without ever shaming or shutting people down. All these elements still sit at the heart of what we do in classrooms across the country.
Organisations like Tender are working tirelessly to amplify the voices of victim/survivors – not just for an hour-long episode but for many years.
TV is an empathy box
Domestic abuse affects everyone in some way, whether as a victim/survivor, friend, family member or professional. I loved that Jack Thorne described the TV as an empathy box sitting in the corner of your sitting room, telling stories that unlock conversations.
But telling these vital stories is one step – the next is unpicking and exploring what has just played out in front of us while we ate our cheese on toast. As Jack said, the drama starts the conversation, and then it’s the turn of the experts like Tender to carry on the conversations in a safe and structured way.
Kindness, respect and support
I was really struck by how the safety, support and wellbeing of actors is being prioritised both on TV and in theatre too. In Toby Jones’s recent production, the actor playing Othello had to simulate strangling Desdemona, while the actor playing Desdemona was being killed (by someone who was meant to love and care for them) 150 times in that run. Toby explained how the team employed both a drama therapist and an intimacy coordinator to support the actors through this experience.
I also loved the care and consideration of Jo as producer of Adolecence around each step that involved child actors. It’s brilliant to hear how this is becoming more normal and standard practice in the industry. At Tender we hold kindness, respect and support at the heart of everything we do: every exercise we create, each word we write in our scripts are considered with the participants in mind. Each step is considered with care.
A seed is planted
Domestic abuse can be normalised, even overlooked – yet one in three women and one in six men experience abuse in their lifetime. Two women are killed every week by a partner or ex-partner.
But as we see in dramas like Adolescence, well-researched texts delivered by strong, invested actors can really give it more volume. Drama offers a potential change – a seed is planted. In our workshops, we continue to water that seed, with a space to consider an issue at a safe distance.
Jodie explained how as an actor, it’s her job to keep the viewer engaged, not let them to disconnect. This mirrors Tender’s work in the classroom. Over 20 years, we have become experts at making our work enjoyable, accessible and hopeful while exploring difficult content.
A different path
As we all know, Adolescence was filmed in one continuous short. As individuals and as a society, we have the chance to hit pause – and instead offer choice and hope.
In my opinion, prevention education is one the strongest opportunities we have to offer a different path to young people, to show them that they deserve to feel happy, valued and safe in all their friendships and relationships. We are giving young people the tools to be able to become their own editors, to rewrite the script both for themselves and their generation.
I believe we are all storytellers. Tender projects don’t just talk towards young people, they create space, a blank page to be filled, edited, rewritten and reclaimed.
We all deserve happy healthy relationships.
