The Crossing was developed as part of the Exchange for Change programme and was presented on the Festival Day, 30 June 2011.

A Note from the Director:

If you tell someone they are worthless enough times, they will eventually start to believe it. In the same way, if you provide a nurturing approach to educating and interacting with young people, an imaginative and creative and confident individual can emerge. Nowhere is this more poignant than with 8-12s, who are at the cusp of adulthood, where the consequences of words and actions can mark an individual indelibly. Our creative encounters with the young people, plus our own very honest recollections of being that age, stimulated an exploration that led us to portraying the very thin line between abuse and nurture and their uncharted consequences. We found a world of two beginnings and two endings – one in the real world and one in the imaginary. The audience could choose which route they wanted to take as the two worlds journey in parallel and the central character moved between them through the lollypop lady’s portal. We wanted to question whether young people can exercise a choice. The 10 year old in our story decided it is safer and more satisfying to inhabit the imagined, rather than face the realities of his everyday life. Perhaps he didn’t really have a choice. Entering the pages of a fantasy novel, or the virtual world of computer games, can be very unpredictable. Too many young people live in chaos. This ‘scratch’ piece was part of an on-going process, which used a range of artforms and synergy between artists from very different disciplines to map this uncomfortable journey.