homelessness CARDBOARD CITIZENS
Sam Melish
Cardboard Citizens has been making life-changing theatre with and for homeless people for more than 25 years – theatre that makes a real and positive difference to society and those living on its margins. Performances encourage communities to come together, telling stories, raising awareness, and finding solutions to the changes we face in our lives through theatre performed on the stage, in the street, in hostels, centres, and prisons.
richard’s story
Pamela Raith Photography
“If you’d asked me where I’d be at 18 months ago, having a job was a distant dream. Doing something to help others, when I couldn’t even help myself, unimaginable. But here I am, a ward visitor in a mental health hospital, helping people put their lives back together. I have a lot of life experiences to share, stories that haunted me,
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the clothworkers’ foundation annual review 2017
stories that Cardboard Citizens encouraged me to address and come to terms with. We all have our own story, some more fortunate than others, but everyone should be given a chance to reinvent themselves. Thank you, Cardboard Citizens, for giving me this chance – it’s been lifechanging in so many ways.” Richard
The Cardboard Citizens programme of workshops, training, and performance helps to develop the skills, qualifications, and confidence of hundreds of homeless people every year. At a national level, in partnership with leading homelessness agencies and theatre companies, Cardboard Citizens shows a hidden Britain to all who care to look. Our £30,000 grant was towards refurbishing the charity’s building in East London.
Facing page: Cardboard Citizens production. Above: Richard, in a Cardboard Citizens production. the clothworkers’ foundation annual review 2017
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