Tearing Puccini to pieces

On the Guild website I've posted Darren Rapier's article from the most recent issue of the WGGB magazine UK Writer about a writing project he led with young offenders in London.

I know some people in these situations like to have a notion of what they’ll do if the thing doesn’t happen – a back-up idea that they can feed in to the play and paper it over with a few ‘street’ phrases here and there – but I believe the participants should do the work. I simply steer them in the right direction: no preconceptions, no limitations, no backup. It means they have ownership and pride in the piece. You just have to believe it will work, eventually.