James Kenworth

About James Kenworth

James Kenworth is a playwright and creative writing tutor. His work often explores themes of social justice, class, and community, with a strong focus on engaging local audiences and untold stories. James is best known for his Newham Plays series, a critically acclaimed collection of site-specific and politically engaged theatre pieces that bring to life the unique voices and experiences of the Newham borough. James has deep roots in Newham, where he lived for nearly 30 years, and shaped his voice as a playwright.

Taking an approach to community theatre which leans away from addressing a particular issue and has a specific intention or impact (e.g., theatre in prisons, theatre in education), what constitutes or qualifies as a ‘Newham Play’ starts with a question about the ‘character’ of the community, its unexplored narratives or the reconfiguration of local spaces; in other words, what are the interesting stories in Newham and where would be an interesting location or site in the community to tell them? The early research and development process actively seeks out local material which has a surprising, original or unexpected quality to it, such as Gandhi meeting Chaplin in Canning Town, or the birth of The Labour Party in West Ham. A local space/location might present itself as a singular and unique environment for a reimagining of a literary classic, e.g., transposing Orwell’s classic satire of an animal uprising to an actual inner-city farm in Beckton; a multicultural Alice in an adventure playground in Canning Town.

A ‘Newham Play’ needs to illuminate or unearth a ‘hand in glove’ congruence between physical site/space and subject matter. It should be apparent to an audience, especially (although not exclusively) a local one, why the play has a resonance, relevance and significance to their lives and for their community. The principal investigation behind the Newham Plays lies in exploring the question: how can iconic literary classics and historical drama/biography be reimagined and ‘localized’ to reflect a sense of a place, people and culture? How do plays set in the past hold up a mirror to the present, to make a ‘contemporary statement written for our times’?

It is the development of a methodology of Pro-Localism that has enabled me to shift my interests in making theatre in the community, away from an overtly ‘worthy’, or primarily issue-led approach, and create an infrastructure of support in which to produce unconventional and unusual local stories for and about Newham.

The ‘Pro-Localist’ ethos contends that a localist and grassroots approach is the most effective way of empowering wider access to the arts, arguing for an increased emphasis on a decentralized model of performance in local spaces rather than in establishment mainstream auditoria. There is also perhaps a ‘social reaffirmation’ argument to make. In an increasingly digitally-saturated world, where advances in technology are negating the need for face-to-face human contact, the ‘analogue’ experience of a small group of people in a non-corporate, localized setting, watching a play, on a bare stage, or on a farm or adventure playground, with just a few props, some indicative costumes, becomes almost an act of subversion, and suggests more than a hint of an oppositional stance towards the big-budget, lavish dramas pumped out on an alarmingly regular, if hugely popular, basis by the streaming giants.

Contrary to doom-mongers predicting theatre will be an irrelevance, or have even died out, in tomorrow’s ‘digital-premium’ future, I contend the kind of theatre making made at a grassroots level may survive surprisingly well in a hyper-digitized leisure/entertainment landscape precisely because of its offer of ‘unconscious subversion’ and promise of visceral sensations; low-tech/no-tech, physical, communal-centred; a sense of touch, brushing past people, people bumping into you; being human.

The Newham Plays are a groundbreaking theatrical series by former long-term Newham resident and Playwright/Creative Writing Tutor James Kenworth, celebrating the stories, spaces, and people of Newham.

Staged in site-responsive locations in Newham, the plays merge professional performance with community participation, particularly involving local youth. These productions aim to reconnect Newham’s residents with their cultural roots, reinterpreting history/heritage and literature through a local, socially conscious lens.