GMP Method

The Grassmarket Project's unique approach to theatre, developed since 1990, means that young people with no previous experience of the arts have the opportunity to work alongside the very best professional actors to produce work of the highest quality. At the same time, experience has shown that working in this way encourages young people to think in a new way about education, creativity and other areas of social development.

Our method of theatre creation utilizes elements of "theatre verite", in which about 70% of the cast are non-professional actors, who share their real life experiences with the audience. This brings an extremely authentic and explosive edge to the work, which an audience is often overwhelmed by.

"For the past 12 years Jeremy Weller's company, the "Grassmarket Project", has been going into traumatic environments and working with the most recalcitrant, difficult subjects, to tell the story of their lives. He has worked with teenage- ex-prisoners in Kosova, ex-KLA soldiers, Brazilian street children, gang members from Harlem, New York, inmates from Young Offender's Institutions, women suffering from mental health problems, drug addicts and the homeless. The purpose of his many award-winning productions is to encourage his subjects to step sideways from their experiences, and wrest art from reality"
Gillian Pachter (Illuminations TV, 2002)

The key method: Our 20 years of experience of creating art in which the starting point is the narratives of the young people's lives. By working with such narratives, it is possible to involve young people and make it interesting to them.

Professionalism of the highest standard: The non-professional actors are encouraged into a professionalism that they have never experienced before, and the professional actors are forced to raise their game to match the realistic and raw acting of the non-professionals.

The show and the applause: The performance is the proof of achievement directly felt. During workshops participants often spontaneously applaud the improvisations, this applause is the gradual realization to the participant that they are achieving step by step.

I can't read and write very well, but in the drama I could show how I feel, what's inside me - who I am. Standing in front of them, that's a pure high, like drugs, but it won't kill you! People like you and what you've done. You sort of become someone. Stand up, soak up the sound of them applauding you and feel good!

Project Participant, 16 years old. "Bus Stops“ Glasgow� project, 2005