Face the World – Experiencing Burton & District Mind’s Neurodiverse Theatre Group as it reaches its final weeks…

On Tuesday the 21st of April 2026, I tagged along to the theatre group (now in its 12 week), to see how things were going as they get closer and closer to performing their final piece. Here is how it went…
Having arrived early, it was clear from the get-go, the excitement that the participants had for the project with one expressing their enjoyment of the theatre games used to warm up for the sessions.
The session began at 10am once the facilitators, volunteers, and participants had all arrived, and once everyone was sat down Lalita led the group in calming Mindfulness session. This involves the group closing their eyes, relaxing and listening to Lalita as she describes different calming situations.

After a few minutes of this, and Lalita reached the end of the Mindfulness reading, everyone opened their eyes and were led into song by Margaret from Shoebox Theatre. With many of the participants also joining in with the song enthusiastically.

Then it was time for the theatre warm up games to begin! Starting with a game of Zip Zap boing and then splitting into pairs and jumping into a Mirroring game. This involved one participant performing different actions, whilst their partner would then replicate their actions. This seemed to be a hit amongst the group, with much laughter around the room.

With the end performance getting closer, the group jumped into a discussion around the following…

•  Blocking out the scenes
• Different roles people would like to do such as writing or stagehands
• The costumes required for the performan

Throughout the discussion, everyone was given the opportunity to get involved and have their say with how they thought it should go, and different ideas were bounced off different members of the group. Everyone’s passion for the work they’d put in over the previous 12 weeks was clear to see, and it was wonderful to see everyone giving the chance to express themselves.
Once the discussion was over, they began blocking out the different scenes (which I shall not go into much detail of as to not give away any spoilers). However, I will say there was some great performances, actions, and sound effects throughout.

It will be great to see how this develops further over the coming weeks and they do their final performance.

Thank you to the group for allowing me the chance to come along to see them at work!