Reality Theatre CIC
working in partnership with
Our Chartist Heritage
Director, Juls Benson writes:
Reality Theatre CIC is a non-profit community arts and music organisation based in the heart of Newport. Founded in 2016 and driven by a belief in the transformative power of creativity, we work across theatre, film, and music to empower individuals, challenge inequality, and amplify the voices of those often excluded from the creative sector. As a working-class, issue-driven organisation, our projects reflect the real lives, struggles, and strengths of the communities we serve.
We have a strong working relationship with Our Chartist Heritage, whose aims include educating people on the history and heritage of Chartism. The Chartists, of course, fought to improve living and working conditions through political reform, which is why we have such a good partnership, having shared values.
Some of the work we have carried out in collaboration with Our Chartist Heritage is to have our actors take part in the Newport Rising march in 2024, dressed in costume and joining the marchers along the way. One of our characters was the mother of George Shell, who died in the uprising, beseeching the crowd as they passed:
“Lord, help me to find my son! My brave and beautiful boy, George Shell, has joined the miners and workmen for the march on Newport and I fear he has met his death. This letter has been found: (she reads letter aloud) “I shall this night be engaged in a struggle for freedom and should it please God to spare my life, I shall see you soon. But if not, grieve not for me, I shall fall in a noble cause…” Lord, help me to find my son!”
Another of our actors portrayed ‘The Hag’, to a great response as she urged the marchers on:
“I vow that I will fight till I am knee-deep in blood, before those Cockneys take the prisoners out of town! Forward! To the Westgate! Release our men!”
Using a little artistic licence, Mayor Phillips reading the Riot Act, with our military guard from the 45th Regiment, proud to feature alongside film and TV actor, Julian Lewis Jones.
To the boos and heckling from the crowd,Mayor Phillips read:-
“People of Newport! I order you to leave these grounds and return to your homes. (reads aloud the Riot Act) Our Sovereign Lady the Queen chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the Act made in the first year of King George the First for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the Queen!” (Gunfire rings out)
Education
Our education projects, designed and delivered with Our Chartist Heritage, to help children and young people to recognise key events that have shaped our local history. The sessions were structured around the following objectives:
Describe Chartism!
Understand the reasons behind the Chartists’ march to Newport!
Create characters or objects for a Chartist scene!
An introduction was given, to include the context behind the Chartist march, before a short scene was performed by our actors, based upon a fictional family the night before the march, which opened up a discussion on why people felt the need to march and whether the children or young people there would have joined.
We delivered the session to Coleg Gwent Independent Living Students, who made posters on what was important to them. They then dressed up as Chartists and re-enacted a riot in the Cab, our home base!
Another enthusiastically received project was delivered to children in Ifor Hael primary school. The children created their own characters and then in costume, marched around the entire school and playground, beating drums and saucepans and demanding the right to vote. The children and teachers loved the session and have invited us back in September.
This work highlights the power of theatre. Theatre brings history to life, and acts as a living archive. It can connect the struggles of the past with the realities of today. If we accept the notion that all art is political, then theatre is the tool to teach, to question, to provoke discussion, and to empower people through creative expression.
Why do we need to celebrate our radical past?
It is vital for young people to understand the reasons behind actions like the Chartist Rising or the Rebecca Riots. It helps them to make sense of today’s world, to understand why people in different countries, in different cultures, different nations, are fighting for freedoms and rights. It is through partnerships such as this, that we can continue to highlight the need for social and political change. This is why it is essential that we have continued support for cultural work, especially when that work is rooted in history and social justice.
A member of the 45th Regiment at the Cab
