Thursday 31st July 2025 marks a meaningful moment for Spectacle Theatre and the communities of the Upper Rhondda. With support from the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund, we’ve spent the past five months listening, creating, and talking — exploring how masculinity is shaped, experienced, and expressed in 2025.
Now, we’re gathering in the woods to share what we’ve discovered.
Hosted at Welcome to Our Woods, Cwm Saerbren, Rhondda, the event brings together participants, artists, volunteers and supporters for a one-hour sharing session, followed by a creative showcase, informal conversation — and pizza making.
Exploring Big Questions Through Local Voices
This project began with a bold aim: to open up community-led conversations about gender, identity, and emotional wellbeing. From the outset, Spectacle Theatre committed to working in partnership with local people to explore themes including:
- What does it mean to be a man today?
- How do expectations around masculinity shape behaviour and relationships?
- Where do power, empathy, and vulnerability fit into the picture?
- How do we move from silence and stereotypes to openness and connection?
Far from being an abstract discussion, these themes were grounded in real, lived experience. Across 12 sessions — from Zoom calls and library meet-ups to men’s wellbeing circles and intergenerational groups — participants of all ages and backgrounds brought their insight, humour, frustration, and care into the room.
We worked with:
- Young people aged 11–25 from the Generation Rhondda project
- Adults with complex needs, carers, and neurodivergent individuals
- Older men sharing memories of a very different social landscape
- Members of our own Monday Night Group, who explored masculinity through collaborative creative work
Each session was shaped around openness, playfulness and reflection. Whether making post-it collages, discussing the phrase “a good man,” creating “inside vs outside” character maps, or writing “I am…” poems, participants were invited to speak honestly, listen actively, and challenge assumptions — including their own.
A Collaborative, Cross-Generational Approach
The structure of the project was intentionally layered:
- Phase 1 (April–May) focused on building trust, gathering lived experience, and introducing creative prompts
- Phase 2 (May–July) deepened engagement with young people and community members, developing material for discussion and performance
- Phase 3, beginning in 2026, will see these insights evolve into a full Theatre in Education tour for schools and youth settings across the Pen y Cymoedd area
This tour will include performances, workshops, and digital learning resources — giving young audiences the tools to explore gender, influence, behaviour and safety in ways that are honest, creative, and rooted in their realities.
One person who had a unique window into the early stages of this journey was Meghan, a Year 10 student from RCT. During her weeklong work experience with Spectacle Theatre, Meghan observed script development in action, witnessed collaborative rehearsal rooms, and reflected on the care and complexity behind Theatre in Education. Her article captures the heart of the process beautifully:
👉 Read Meghan’s blog: My Week at Spectacle – Theatre in Education for Safer Communities
Sharing What We’ve Started
This week’s event isn’t a final performance or polished conclusion. It’s a celebration of process — of what happens when people are given the time and space to ask hard questions together.
Guests will hear from the people who took part — what surprised them, what challenged them, and what they’ll carry forward. The morning also includes a creative showcase featuring performances from our Monday Night Group, who have been central to the development of the project.
And because sharing also happens around food, we’ll be rolling up our sleeves for pizza making and eating, with time to chat informally in the beautiful woodland roundhouse at Cwm Saerbren.
With Gratitude
We want to extend heartfelt thanks to our funders at the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund, whose generous support made this project possible.
We are also incredibly grateful to the team at Welcome to Our Woods, especially Martyn Broughton, for their ongoing support and warm welcome. The beautiful setting at Cwm Saerbren has played a vital role in helping participants feel grounded, safe, and connected.
Special thanks also go to the Woodland Therapy group and the Young Rangers, whose openness and enthusiasm made our sessions in the forest even more meaningful.
What Comes Next
This project has directly informed the development of our next Theatre in Education tour for secondary schools in the Pen y Cymoedd area, launching in 2026. But more importantly, it has helped to start conversations we believe are vital to the health, safety, and inclusivity of our communities.
We’re proud of the trust, courage and creativity shown by every participant — and we look forward to continuing this work in classrooms, community halls, and creative spaces across South Wales in the year to come.
Until then, we’ll be in the woods — listening, laughing, making dough, and keeping the conversation going.
