Y Touring Theatre Company

Last updated
Y Touring Theatre Company / Theatre of Debate
Address Kings Cross, London
England
Website
http://www.theatreofdebate.co.uk/

Y Touring Theatre Company was a national touring theatre company which produced original plays and debates exploring contemporary issues. It was founded in 1989 by Nigel Townsend. The company was based in Kings Cross, London, England and was a former operation of Central YMCA.

Contents

In 2014 Y Touring Theatre Company was closed.

The company is now extending the work through digital media.

Y Touring Theatre Company history

Y Touring produced 54 regional, national and international tours of plays by professional playwrights including Judith Johnson, Judy Upton, Jonathan Hall, Nicola Baldwin and Rhiannon Tise, reportedly reaching over 2 million young people in schools, youth clubs, community venues, studio theatres, prisons and young offenders centres.

Y Touring's first production was 'The Inner Circle' by Patricia Loughrey, [1] originally commissioned by The New Conservatory Theatre Centre in San Francisco, adapting it for British young people's audiences. This play told the story of a group of four friends, one of whom had been infected by HIV and went on to develop AIDS and die.

Theatre of Debate

Y Touring's projects generally followed a 'Theatre of Debate' model. Each project consists of a play aiming to engage its audience in an informed debate about a specific subject. The play is followed by a live debate between the actors (who remain in character) and the audience.

Y Touring / Theatre of Debate Productions

2014
Y Touring Theatre Company was closed in 2014.

2011
Dayglo by Abi Bown which explored the ethical and scientific issues around Pharmacogenetics.

2011
Mind the Gap * by Abi Bown
(Revival of 2004 production)
Was performed at Royal Albert Hall as part of National Science & Engineering Week [2] Mind the Gap was filmed and broadcast in 8 cinemas nationwide, click here [2] for details. This production won the Runner-Up of the National Science and Engineering Week 2011 Best Science Event category [3]

2009
'Breathing Country' by Ben Musgrave [4] is a play which explores the issues raised by the use of electronic patient records in medical research. The production was developed in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) and was supported by the Wellcome Trust and Central YMCA.
The play was shortlisted for the Brian Way Award 2010 for best play for young people. [5]
The project's advisory panel included the following:

2009
'Starfish' by Judith Johnson [6] is a play which explores the issues raised by clinical trials.
The project was funded by the Wellcome Trust. The Daily Telegraph article about 'Starfish' commented on that the play that, 'The heartfelt response to this tear-jerking story of love, romance and grief was all the more surprising given that the play was also an attempt to explore the issues surrounding clinical trials in medicine.' [7]

The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

2008
'The Projectionist' by Laura FitzGerald is an audio play/podcast exploring social, moral, scientific and political questions posed by the rise of a privacy and surveillance society. The production was developed in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering. The project's advisory panel included the following:

2007
'Nobody Lives Forever' by Judith Johnson, [6] exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by stem cell research. The production was developed in partnership with the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and was supported by the Medical Research Council (UK) (MRC), the Department of Health, Action Medical Research and the Royal Albert Hall. The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

2007
'Full Time' by Rachel Wagstaff [8] is a play that explores racism, homophobia and sexism in football. The production was developed in partnership with the Football Association and the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF). The project was supported by the Football Foundation and Central YMCA. The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

2006
'Every Breath' by Judith Johnson, [6] exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by the use of animals in medical research. This production was developed in partnership with the Association of Medical Research charities. The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

* 2004
'Mind the Gap' by Abi Bown, [9] exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by advances in neuroscience. This production was developed in partnership with The European DANA Alliance for the Brain. The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

2000
'Learning to Love the Grey' by Jonathan Hall, [10] exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by advances in Cloning and stem cell therapy. Developed in partnership with, and supported by, the Wellcome Trust.

1999
'Sweet As You Are' by Jonathan Hall, [10] exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by the Genetic Modification of crops. Developed in partnership with, and supported by, the John Innes Centre and the Teachers Scientist network. The play won a fringe first award at the Edinburgh festival 1999 [11]

1997
'Pig in the Middle' by Judy Upton, [12] exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by advances in Xenotransplantation (animal to human transplants). Developed in partnership with the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

1996
'Cracked' by Nicola Baldwin, [13] exploring the biological basis of mental illness and depression in particular. Developed in partnership with The Mental Health Foundation, supported by the Wellcome Trust. The project's Advisory Panel included the following:

1995
'The Gift' by Nicola Baldwin, exploring the social, moral, scientific and political questions raised by advances in Genetic selection. Developed with Prof Bernadette Modell supported by the Wellcome Trust.

Digital Media

Y Touring produced, in partnership with Maverick Productions, a three-part adaptation of 'Learning to Love the Grey' and a three-part drama 'Making Astronauts', a drama which complements the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ report on the ethics of research into the relationship between genes and behaviour. Both of these dramas were commissioned by the Open University’s Open Science programme.

Patrons

Actors the company have worked with

Related Research Articles

Sir Michael Llewellyn Rutter CBE FRS FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci was the first person to be appointed professor of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychology". Rutter was professor of developmental psychopathology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, a post he held since 1966, until retiring in July 2021. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Rutter as the 68th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. He died of cancer on October 23, 2021, aged 88.

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. POST serves both Houses of Parliament.

Guy Goodwin is a senior research fellow and until recently was the W.A. Handley Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford (2014). A fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Goodwin has served as principal investigator in many clinical trials for the treatment of bipolar disorder. He is also an Emeritus Senior Investigator at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and has been on the advisory boards of numerous research councils. He was President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology from 2013 to 2016.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a UK-based independent charitable body, which examines and reports on bioethical issues raised by new advances in biological and medical research. Established in 1991, the Council is funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. The Council has been described by the media as a 'leading ethics watchdog', which 'never shrinks from the unthinkable'.

Herbert David Kleber was an American psychiatrist and substance abuse researcher. His career, centered on the evidence-based treatment of addiction, focused on scientific approaches in place of punishment and moralisms. His career focused on pathology of addiction to help patients reduce the severe discomforts of withdrawal, avoid relapse and stay in recovery.

Stephen Garrard Post has served on the Board of the John Templeton Foundation (2008-2014), which focuses on virtue and public life. He is a researcher, opinion leader, medical school professor, and best-selling author who has taught at the University of Chicago Medical School, Fordham University-Marymount, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (1988-2008) and Stony Brook University School of Medicine (2008-). He is widely known for his research on the ways in which giving can enhance the health and happiness of the giver, how empathy and compassionate care contribute to patient outcomes, ethical issues in caring for people with dementia, medical professionalism and the virtues, and positive psychology in relation to health and well-being. Post is an elected member of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Royal Society of Medicine, London. He was selected nationally as the Public Member of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Composite Committee (2000-2005), and was reappointed for outstanding contributions.

John Andrew Todd FMedSci FRS is Professor of Precision Medicine at the University of Oxford, director of the Wellcome Center for Human Genetics and the JDRF/Wellcome Trust Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory, in addition to Jeffrey Cheah Fellow in Medicine at Brasenose College. He works in collaboration with David Clayton and Linda Wicker to examine the molecular basis of type 1 diabetes.

Sir Peter Stanley Harper was a British physician and academic who was University Research Professor (Emeritus) in Human Genetics at Cardiff University. His work focused on researching neurogenetics and has resulted in discoveries concerning muscular dystrophies and Huntington's disease. He was knighted in 2004 for services to medicine.

Martin Bobrow is a British geneticist, and Emeritus Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Henry Victor Dicks was a British psychiatrist. He drew on his wartime experiences, which included the medical care of Rudolf Hess, to develop views on authoritarian personality and the collective psychopathology of authoritarian regimes.

Peter J. Ratcliffe

Sir Peter John Ratcliffe, FRS, FMedSci is a British Nobel Laureate physician-scientist who is trained as a nephrologist. He was a practising clinician at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine and head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford from 2004 to 2016. He has been a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford since 2004. In 2016 he became Clinical Research Director at the Francis Crick Institute, retaining a position at Oxford as member of the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research and Director of the Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford.

Julie Makani Tanzanian medical researcher

Julie Makani is a Tanzanian medical researcher. From 2014 she is Wellcome Trust Research Fellow and Associate Professor in the Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). Also a visiting fellow and consultant to the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, she is based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 2011, she received the Royal Society Pfizer Award for her work with sickle cell disease.

Wim van den Brink is emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Addiction at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam. He was Director of the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research (AIAR) and Scientific Director of the National Committee for Treatment of Heroin Addiction (CCBH) in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Barry R. Bloom is Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Professor of Public Health in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Department of Global Health and Population in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, where he served as dean of the faculty from 1998 through December 31, 2008.

Stephen Stahl

Stephen Michael Stahl is an author and professor of psychiatry with expertise in psychopharmacology. He is currently a Professor at the University of California, San Diego and serves as Honorary Fellow in psychiatry department at the University of Cambridge. He is also the chairman of Neuroscience Education Institute (NEI) and Arbor Scientia Group.

Seema Bhatnagar is an Indian scientist, working in the field of anticancer drug discovery. She primarily works on synthetic chemistry approaches for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs in breast cancer.

Stan Kutcher is a Canadian Senator and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on December 12, 2018.

Monica Lakhanpaul

Monica Lakhanpaul MBBS MRCPH (UK) DM FRCPCH MFPH FRSA is a British Indian academic, researcher, clinician, broadcaster, science communicator and poet.

Kevin Marsh is a British Malariologist, academic and a researcher. He is a Professor of Tropical Medicine and Director of Africa Oxford Initiative at University of Oxford. He is also a senior advisor at African Academy of Sciences.

Alena Buyx German medicine ethicist and university teacher

Alena Michaela Buyx is a German medical ethicist. She has been president of the German Ethics Council since 2020.

References

  1. "Patricia Loughrey - Playwright". doollee.com.
  2. 1 2 "National Science week". www.royalalberthall.com. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  3. "British Science Association : Winners 2011". Archived from the original on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
  4. "Ben Musgrave - Playwright". doollee.com.
  5. "Theatre Centre". theatre-centre.co.uk.
  6. 1 2 3 "Judith Johnson- Playwright Dramatist". doollee.com.
  7. Sophie Petit-Zeman (17 February 2009). "Medical ethics meets kitchen-sink drama". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009.
  8. "Rachel Wagstaff". doollee.com.
  9. "Abi Bown". doollee.com.
  10. 1 2 "Jonathan Hall". doollee.com.
  11. "mypriestley.org.uk".
  12. "Judy Upton". doollee.com.
  13. "Nicola Baldwin". doollee.com.
  14. "Characters". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-04-28.