Weapon of Choice grew out of the issues raised during our 2008 project TANB and set out to investigate gun and knife crime amongst young people and on the streets.  It also enabled us to develop our youth leadership programme with the leadership of the project being handed to two past participants, Angus Scott Miller and Zephryn Taitte.

 The aim was to involve young people in creating stronger, more peaceful communities by creatively investigating community problems.  From community research, visits to Youth Centres and Youth Offending Teams in the target boroughs of Camden, Hackney, Southwark and Lambeth the project directors cast a team of nine young people and together spent several months devising a performance piece. 

The  performance titled 'Panopticism' looked at the causes of gun and knife crime, the pervading sense of fear on London streets and the pressures of growing up in 21st century Britain. Rather than providing solutions the play encouraged the audience to get involved in the drama to question their own choices and actions.

"Panopticism" toured schools, Pupil Referral Units, Community Centres and theatres in winter 2009, including a performance at the  British Council Global Changemakers Summit in High Wycombe, where the cast debated the issue with young activists from around the world and was invited to tour abroad.

The highly acclaimed performance is not the only success of the project. The group, who had not previously met, and came from different areas across London, showed their commitment  to the project, working intensively together over the project duration. This, in itself, helps to combat the territorialism which is a major cause of the gun and knife crime on London streets. The group's dedication to the project and subject matter, and the desperate need for a peer led project addressing gun and knife crime issues,  has been recognised by the Big Lottery Fund,St Andrews Holborn Charity and the Unite Foundation who are funding the next phase of the project.

This phase will see the group continue to develop "Panopticism" as well as devise other performance pieces around issues which have arisen from post show debates with young audiences.  They will also undertake Theatre for Development training with Pan's professional artists in order to gain skills in workshop facilitation.  They will use these new skills to devise workshops around performance themes offering a package of performances and workshops which can be used to engage hard to reach young people in debate and positive activity led by positive peer role models. 

Weapon of Choice has been funded with the generous support of the Big Lottery Fund, Trusthouse Charitable Foundation, St. Andrew Holborn Charity, Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust and Unite Foundation.