In early 2009 Bluestreak were approached to investigate the devising of a short theatrical show about sex and relationships that would appeal to a wide age group. The idea was to produce a show that would be able to start debate and promote open discussion around the issues surrounding sex and sexual relationships.

The project was split into three sections. Firstly a research and development project entitled ‘Everybody’ Business’. This included investigating the current statistics of sex and sexual health challenges for young people, interviews and discussions with members of the public and finally investigation into stories and events from the media.

These formed the backdrop of stimulus for the next two stages. ‘Let’s Talk About’ was the second stage of the programme and held dual purpose, firstly to create some original creative works with three diverse groups of young people and secondly to provide further information and stimulus for the creation of the final show. The three creative works devised during ‘Let’s Talk About’ included a short film, a radio play and drama performance. ‘Truth or Dare’, the short film and ‘Dazed’, the radio play are both on the CD Rom enclosed in the tool kit.

These are designed to be used as discussion starters for groups and both can be used as a prelude to working with the main ‘Seen and Not Heard’ script. Once we had completed the initial stages of the project we went into a three week devising period. After much deliberation and a great deal of cutting and editing we finally had a final show in the autumn of 2009.

In order to maximise the shows potential impact we deliberated about how best to capture and re-present the work to a wider audience. Rather than produce a short film the team felt that a more interactive resource would be a good method of using all the works created during the process.

The activity and resource pack created represents all the elements of the project and can be used in a number of different and exciting ways. From simply using the short audio files to promote a conversation through to working with a group of young people to produce the whole play ‘Seen and Not Heard’ can be adapted to fit any groups educational needs.