News
we love our amazing Beat This! family photo by the brilliant @scottakoz photography
Unity Festival 2023
Catch Beat This! performing Saturday 25th March 10am – 5pm at Ouseburn Community Centre At Unity Festival 2023, presented by @skimstonearts
A FREE music and arts festival celebrating humanity, nature and social action.
Preston Park Museum & Grounds, Stockton-on-Tees – Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 March, 10am to 4pm
Ouseburn Community Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne – Saturday 25 March, 10am to 6pm
UNITY Festival returns for three days of FREE live music, performance, arts, exhibitions, creative workshops and outdoor trails in Stockton and Newcastle. Festival-goers of all ages can take part in a jam-packed programme of events to celebrate humanity, nature and social action.
Don’t miss performances from Hannabiell and the Midnight Blue Collective, rapper Kema Kay as well as Skimstone Arts’ own young people’s band Reality Boots.
UNITY Festival 2023 is free and open to everyone. Admission to the Preston Park Museum & Grounds for this weekend is also free.
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Image by @scottakozÂ
Ground Breakers Crew Performing at U.Dance Regional at Dancecity
We are excited for Ground Breakers Crew to be performing their new Show ‘Did somebody say Party?’ at Dance City this Saturday as part of U.Dance Sub Regional Celebration.
Each spring, U.Dance events take place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales offering exciting performance and workshop opportunities for thousands of young dancers. Collectively these are referred to as ‘U.Dance Regional Platforms’ and are hosted by a network of partner organisations.
A selection of groups from the evening U.Dance regional will advance to The U.Dance National Festival 2023, held in Newcastle from 21-23 July presented by One Dance UK
We wish Ground Breakers and all the other participants all the best of luck this weekend!
To book a ticket to see the performance on Saturday 11March click here 
https://www.dancecity.co.uk/…/u-dance-sub-regional…/
Break-ability Jam : An Inclusive Community Hip Hop Event – Thursday 23rd Feb 4-8pm
We are excited to partner with Bad Taste Cru and Just Jam Intl this year to offer a FREE EVENT as part of their International Hip Hop festival.
Break-Ability Jam: An inclusive hip hop community event, which we are running in partnership with Bad Taste Cru and Just Jam Intl Festival. The event takes place at Lawnmowers Arts Centre, Shields Road, Pelaw, NE10 0QD 
THURS 23RD FEB 4-8PM
It’s a FREE EVENT led by international disabled break dance champions ‘ILL ABILITIES CREW https://www.illabilities.com/ iLL-Abilities has created an exceptional teaching method that is inclusive to all ages, all abilities, and all different skill levels. There will also be a percussion workshop led by Brendan Murphy from The Lawnmowers’ Beat This! and dance film screening from local artists Alex Rowland and Connor Gribben
Spaces are limited, it’s first come first served. This event will sell out!!! If you would like to register any young people for this event, CONTACT US via email or ring us on 07800 844 215
Save The Date!
Happy New Year we are excited announce our Klub dates for this year.
- 10 February
- 31 March
- 28 April
- 19 May
- 23 June
- 21 July
- 22 September
- 27 October
- 24 November
- 15 December
The Kroc Klub is our monthly nightclub run by and for people with learning difficulties. Running from 6:30pm – 9:30pm at The Star and Shadow Cinema. Cost is £5 (Carers Free)
North East Charity Awards 2022
We are humbly honoured to be performing an excerpt of our theatre show ‘Retake, Remake’ as part of this year’s North East Charity Awards Ceremony 2022. A fantastic celebration of charities in the North East, the voluntary sector and the people and companies that support them.
We hope to see you there
Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a challenge participating in democracy?
Or, if you’ve ever been impacted by an unjust rule or policy?
Interested in how we, the people, can make a difference and challenge the inequalities and injustices we see around us, which impact our lives?
Interested in system-change? Interested in democratic process? Interested in socially engaged theatre?
For the first time in the North East of England, come and learn how these interests can be brought together in a dynamic way with Katy Rubin, founder of Theatre of the Oppressed New York.
The Background:
Three decades ago, Theatre of the Oppressed founder Augusto Boal brought a forum play into Rio de Janeiro’s city council chambers, and began using theatre to propose changes to local and national laws. Legislative Theatre is now practiced around the world, from New York City to the Netherlands to India — creative, radical, participatory democracy, based on a foundation of the liberatory ethics and methodology of Theatre of the Oppressed.
In Legislative Theatre, audiences and policymakers watch a play based on the community actors’ experiences with oppressive policies and practices. Then, audiences act onstage to rehearse ways to confront the problems presented, and test new policies in real time. Actors and audiences propose ideas for new laws, rules and policies to address the problems, working together with advocates, organizers, and government representatives. Finally, we vote on new rules, and policymakers commit to immediate actions, and to being held to account for these commitments.
About the Workshop:
In this training, we will use games and exercises to create an original Legislative Theatre play, incorporating political analysis and participatory policy research, addressing an issue that impacts the group. Then we will work through a mock Legislative Theatre session, with a focus on facilitation that flips the power dynamics between policymakers and communities. Finally, we will experiment with new games for pitching and refining policies towards implementation!
Who is it for?
Anyone who wants to spark creative structural change within institutions and systems. Theatre of the Oppressed experience is welcome but not required!
We aim to make the training as accessible as possible, taking account of childcare and other caring responsibilities, access, and considerations aiming to remove barriers to participation. You can access the training on a pay what you can basis, including free spaces. If there are ways we can support you to participate, please let us know and we will try our best. If your organisation/employer is able to pay for a place as part of staff training/development, this will help support the other costs of running the training and meeting the needs of the participants.
Katy Rubin is a Joker and Legislative Theatre practitioner based in the UK, working towards a participatory democracy that is joyful, equitable and inclusive. She’s currently working with communities and local councils to re-imagine policy on housing and homelessness, climate change, and cultural institutions. Originally from New York City, she served as founding director of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC from 2011-2018. The training is brought to the North East by a collaboration between Rosa Stourac McCreery’s Theatre of the Oppressed in the North East project, and The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company, and will be hosted at Lawnmowers Art Centre in Pelaw, Gateshead.
This Training has ended. If you like to know more please contact us.
Back on Tour
Retake, Remake Tour 2022
The Lawnmowers Theatre Ensemble presents Retake, Remake! A show where the actors take back films made about learning disabled people but without learning disabled or actors. In a fun and sometimes profoundly moving way, they question this practice and replay snippets of these films through the art of lip-syncing and stylised movement.
The show however is more than an investigation into an outmoded Hollywood practice, it takes the ensemble and its audience on a wild-water-ride, discussing topics like dating, ownership, sexuality and eugenics. In a patchwork of film, music and popular culture the members of the ensemble ask for respect for people with learning disabilities. Even though, they feel, things are changing for the better, there is still a long way to go. We hope you will enjoy the ride, it’s a ‘real eye-opener’.
This production has finished touring if you want to know more about this show please contact us.
The Krocodile Klub is back in real life!
Join DJ 3D Devil, DJ Mayhem, DJ Wolfy, DJ Geordie and DJ Peace for a poptastic night with classic pop and dance party hits sure to keep you dancing all evening.
The Klub dates for 2022
- 11th February
- 11th March
- 8th April
- 20th May
- 17th June
- 22nd July
- 16th September
- 28th October
- 25th November
- 16th December
6:30pm to 9:30pm. Live at the Star and Shadow Cinema . Be sure to sign up for this limited capacity, real life event!
Due to COVID 19 we are running with restricted capacity and under safety guidelines.
Please watch the COVID19 safety video about health and safety guidelines for The Krocodile Klub at the Star and Shadow Cinema.
Music Spark Show
**This event has ended, please sign up to our mail list for future events and performances.
After 3 years of covid restrictions, we can’t wait to be back celebrating with Music Spark this Saturday 9 July 6pm-9:30pm Sage Gateshead‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The Lawnmowers groups ‘BeatThis!’ and ‘Ground Breakers’ will be drumming and breakdancing on the night as part of Music Spark Show.‎ ‎Tickets will be free so that as many people as possible can all to join in the fun. Tickets are available at Sage Gateshead Box Office
Retake, Remake Live at Arc, Stockton Arts Centre
**This show has ended please stay tuned for more showings soon
The Lawnmowers Theatre Ensemble present Retake, Remake! A show where the actors take back films made about learning disabled and disabled people but without learning disabled or disabled actors. In a fun and sometimes profoundly moving way, they question this practice and replay snippets of these films through the art of lip-syncing and stylised movement.
The Online Krocodile Klub
**This event has ended please stay tuned to our news page or sign up to our mailing list for more upcoming events
The Online Krocodile Klub with live DJs live-streaming from Star and Shadow Cinema to audiences on zoom! featuring DJs 3D Devil, Northboy East, Wolfy, Geordie, Peace, Gingerbeard, Ruzty, and Mayhem!