Theatre: Surreal in the city

A new theatrical project is unchaining the imaginations of pre- teen inner-city children in London's King's Cross.

IN THE END, Keeley Maginnis didn't opt for the defiant rapper's hand-gesture she had been practising as the audience filed into the church hall. When the applause came, the 10-year-old stepped on to the stage and took a series of rapid bows, overwhelmed by the chorus of approval. The scene might sound familiar to anyone who has attended a kids' event at which indulgence is obligatory. But the enthusiasm stirred up by the plays of eight Somers Town children last Friday evening suggested that politeness and parental pride had been supplanted by something much rarer: excitement.

The showcase of 15-minute dramas was presented by Scene and Heard, the first project in the UK to give children from a deprived inner-city area the chance to work one-on-one with professional writers, performers and directors. Over the summer term, eight pre-teen imaginations were encouraged to roam beyond their King's Cross surroundings, acquiring the basic tools of dramaturgy along the way.

The result was dialogue between strange characters (a lion and a Hawaiian dockleaf; a stick of dynamite and a club bouncer) and narrative twists that would surprise even a hardened surrealist (picture a woman being swallowed up by a flying, erupting volcano). Thanks only in part to the energy and commitment of 19 trained actors, there was rarely a dull moment.

The concept has been imported from the US by Sophie Boyack and Kate Coleman, two friends with backgrounds in theatre-in-education. Coleman spent several months last year working at the 52nd Street Project in New York, and was bowled over. In a neighbourhood still living up to its 19th-century "Hell's Kitchen" tag, the project has fostered the creativity of local children for the last 17 years. It has drawn a legion of famous volunteers such has Francis Ford Coppola, Spalding Gray, Wendy Wasserstein, Kathy Bates and Frances McDormand, and has been replicated across the US.

Coleman saw no reason why something similar shouldn't be tried in London, and Somers Town - which has 80 per cent unemployment and an unenviable history of racial tension - seemed appropriate. Although Scene and Heard was only established at the beginning of the year, it has already attracted a loyal troupe of volunteers and pulled in high-profile support. Emily Watson has signed up as patron and on this, the second course (a pilot scheme having been held in March), rising stars Anthony Neilson and Ben Moor acted as consultants to two of the fledglings.

The pieces that resulted are strikingly dissimilar. Twins from Hell, by Victoria Mackulin - in which a girl discovers that her identical twin is a psychopathic mass-murderer - could conceivably have come from the same mind that spawned the pornography-versus-art teaser, The Censor, while Ricky Maginnis's Ro-man - about an orange-juice-producing robot and a robot-engineer who swap lives - has the zany energy of Moor's stand- up comedy.

But Coleman and Boyack vigorously insist that there are strong guidelines to ensure that it is the children's voices that come through - the text is composed entirely of their words. "It may be that in some intuitive way, the child is writing for the adult," says Coleman, "but we also like to find appropriate pairings."

The aim of the project is not the emulation of adult "betters". "We're not trying to turn them into professional writers," says Boyack. "The whole point is for them to create something that gives them a sense of purpose, enjoyment and validation. It's completely lunatic, huge numbers of people helping such a small group, but that's the only way it'll work."

The hope is to attract proper funding and stick around for years to come, becoming an integral part of the community. Given the generous personnel ratios they're after, they doubt whether the profession can sustain wider expansion.

Neilson, however, would love to see a project like this in every school in the land. "Loss of innocence isn't just about sex," he says, as the bright-eyed young playwrights are whisked off to bed, "it's about how we begin to censor ourselves and scale away our dreams. This may be a drop in the ocean, but for the children, you can't even begin to measure its worth."

Information: Scene and Heard, 110 Eversholt St, London NW1 1BS (0171- 383 4995)