positive stories for negatives times

in partnership with wonderfools

Positive Stories for Negative Times is a new national participatory project by Wonder Fools in association with Traverse Theatre. This innovative and exciting project responds to the lack of physical spaces for young people to participate in creative activities due to the pandemic, and instead allows them to come together to make new work online or live in the space if government guidelines allow.

Wonder Fools have commissioned some of the UK’s most exciting voices to write new plays for young people including Sabrina Mahfouz, Stef Smith, Chris Thorpe, Bea Webster and Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse. The plays are written specifically for the times we are living in and will be free to participating groups between the ages of 8 and 25, from September 2020—July 2021. Groups will be sent a handbook of exercises to help explore the play of their choice, and then will be invited to record and upload their performance to our interactive map, which will share and celebrate all the brilliant work from young people across the UK and beyond.

With 2 groups of brilliant young people, Performance Collective Stranraer performed Bad Bored Women of the Rooms (Sabrina Mahfouz) & Hold Out Your Hand (Chris Thorpe).

Bad Bored Women of the Rooms

This is a play about women you have probably never heard of before, doing extraordinary, criminal things and it’s about you – what have you been doing in your room all this time?

written by Sabrina Mahfouz

directed by Artistic Director Sarah Rose Graber

performed by Chelsie Nash, Luke Welch, G.R Greer, Deborah McLelland, Draya Maria & Molly McVinnie.


Hold Out Your Hand

A play for any number of people. It’s an attempt to bring a group of people together, to remember what it was like to work together.

written by Chris Thorpe

directed by Drew Taylor-Wilson

performed by Jodie Robertson, Piper Booth, Ryan Ford, Kimberley Marina Gray, Callum Reid, Kirsty Pickering & Andre Anderson.