Introduction

Travellers and Gypsies are the most marginalised groups in the UK, and Traveller children are often subject to serious bullying and exclusion in the UK school system. In 2003 a young Traveller, Johnny Delaney, was beaten to death in Ellesmere Port, a town near Chester, just for being a Traveller. This individual tragedy gave impetus to our work with Travellers and was the starting point for the research. The Minerva Project gave us an opportunity to work alongside the Traveller community in new ways.

The Department of Performing Arts at the University of Chester has taught aspects of Boal’s work for many years as part of its work in applied drama and theatre. This project helped us think about how we could apply Boal’s methods to take some action to change attitudes towards Travellers and also to open up some new life chances for young Travellers.