We formed Playful Being on a hunch. We wanted to bring more play into our daily lives—to follow the fun and let off steam, experiment and take risks with ideas, be more present and engaged — and we reckoned there were a lot of other people out there looking for something similar. Once we started talking to people, we found our hunch was right. Many adults would love to spend more time with their playful selves but don’t know where to start.
Mel Taylor, Co-Director
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a playful family. The thing I remember giving me the greatest pleasure was the truly playful play – the made-up games, the leaps of imagination, the expansiveness it allowed me.
As an adult, it has been through comedy improvisation and clowning that I’ve experienced the transformative power of play again. I hadn’t felt that special kind of energy and mental freedom for decades. Improv and clowning gave me permission to play. Now I’m more able to give myself that permission, so play pops up in unexpected places: long car journeys or a walk down the street can be opportunities for a game, a creative release.
What sustains and nourishes all my creative practices are the connections I can facilitate for others through improvised, playful approaches to creativity. I have taught for over twenty years in a host of different settings and, for the most part, I’ve loved it. But nothing compares with the experience of being in a room where everyone is lit up by play. That is a total joy.
Nowadays, I try to ensure that everything I do creatively has play at its centre: writing scripts and short stories, improvising, singing, storytelling. Playfulness has been the key to a whole process of change and development. It has allowed me to be adventurous - more willing to go out of my ‘comfort’ zone – and it has brought me to where I want to be.
Jessica Penrose, Co-Director
When I was about 10 years old my mother packed me off one Saturday morning to a “Theatre Workshop”. I had no idea what it was, and was reluctant to go, but it turned out to be one of the most luminous days of my childhood. A higgledy piggledy wooden sculpture seemed to fill the room, and we were let loose, balls of coloured wool in our hands, to scramble over, under and through the spines and struts, creating a crazy rainbowed spider web as we went. Just for the sake of it. It didn’t matter what it looked like. We could only get it right. For that short time, that room was a three-dimensional extension of me, my instincts, my impulses. It was liberating, joyful and truly playful.
As an adult, the times when I’ve felt most low, most cut off from myself, are the times when I’ve forgotten how important that kind of playful creativity is to me. Of all the many wonderful and varied things I’ve done in my life, the ones I keep coming back to are the ones that allow a playful freedom of expression, being in the moment, following my intuition – improvisation, 5 Rhythms dancing, drawing and writing just for the joy of it with no eye to an outcome.
My work as a creative facilitator and teacher of adults over the last 15 years has shown me that I’m not the only one. I’ve seen how a little playfulness can light people up, help them reconnect with what gives them joy, change the way they feel about themselves and others and cope better with whatever life has to throw at them.
When I was about 10 years old my mother packed me off one Saturday morning to a “Theatre Workshop”. I had no idea what it was, and was reluctant to go, but it turned out to be one of the most luminous days of my childhood. A higgledy piggledy wooden sculpture seemed to fill the room, and we were let loose, balls of coloured wool in our hands, to scramble over, under and through the spines and struts, creating a crazy rainbowed spider web as we went. Just for the sake of it. It didn’t matter what it looked like. We could only get it right. For that short time, that room was a three-dimensional extension of me, my instincts, my impulses. It was liberating, joyful and truly playful.
As an adult, the times when I’ve felt most low, most cut off from myself, are the times when I’ve forgotten how important that kind of playful creativity is to me. Of all the many wonderful and varied things I’ve done in my life, the ones I keep coming back to are the ones that allow a playful freedom of expression, being in the moment, following my intuition – improvisation, 5 Rhythms dancing, drawing and writing just for the joy of it with no eye to an outcome.
My work as a creative facilitator and teacher of adults over the last 15 years has shown me that I’m not the only one. I’ve seen how a little playfulness can light people up, help them reconnect with what gives them joy, change the way they feel about themselves and others and cope better with whatever life has to throw at them.
Mandy Long, Playful Being Associate
Mandy is an artist and performer. Her experience as as a performer has taken her to community events, re-enactments and a spell at the Rainbow Factory in Leeds.
She has been honing her skills as a comedy improviser over the past two years and performs with Mel Taylor in the improv duo Long Story Short.
Mandy is an artist and performer. Her experience as as a performer has taken her to community events, re-enactments and a spell at the Rainbow Factory in Leeds.
She has been honing her skills as a comedy improviser over the past two years and performs with Mel Taylor in the improv duo Long Story Short.
Here are just some of the partners we've worked with, and places we've created opportunities to play:
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