Flutter: a play on gambling related harms and young people
14 March 2019
New Peer Theatre Production Addressing Youth Gambling Begins National Tour
Fast Forward has launched a new peer theatre production that raises awareness and poses questions on youth gambling. Between March and May 2019, “Flutter” by Duncan Kidd and produced in collaboration with Strange Town Theatre Company will be touring over 70 high schools across 23 local authorities in Scotland.
 “Flutter” explores the choices and questions around youth gambling by following the story of Jack and his friends, Ryan and Becky. After suffering a sporting injury, Jack is exposed to various forms of gambling but does he or those that enable him to gamble understand what is at risk?
Gambling is being seen as a growing issue for young people in Scotland and the rest of UK. A recent report from the Gambling Commission found that the number of children aged 11-16 that have spent money on gambling in the last year increased to 450,000. The report found that 14% of 11-16 year olds in the UK have gambled with their own money in the past week, more than those of the same age that had drank alcohol (13%), smoked a cigarette (4%) or taken illegal drugs (2%).
Fast Forward has extensive experience of using peer theatre to raise awareness, educate and engage young people on such areas as substance misuse, knife crime, sexual health and parenting. The “Flutter” tour follows the success of the No Knives Better Lives play, “Balisong”, co-produced by Fast Forward and Strange Town, which was performed to over 25,000 school students around Scotland and received national acclaim.
The Flutter theatre tour started on Tuesday 5th March in Edinburgh with performances at Drummond High School and James Gillespies’s High School. Since then, the young actors have travelled around the country performing at Schools in Midlothian, West Lothian, North and South Lanarkshire and Fife. After watching the performance, one S3 pupil said, “The play was powerful and carried a strong message.” Another said, “[The play] was very informative and a good way to educate people about gambling”.
Alongside the theatre tour, Fast Forward are providing CPD sessions for pupil support staff at participating schools.
These sessions include access to free gambling education resources for teachers to use in the classroom as well as information regarding gambling support services available to their students.
After attending a CPD session, a guidance teacher said it was “an excellent, engaging session with great info, stats, well informed, and thought-provoking.”
The Flutter tour and Gambling Education CPD sessions are both free for schools as part of Fast Forward’s new Gambling Education Hub.
In August 2018 Fast Forward was awarded ÂŁÂľ million funding by Gamble-Aware to further develop the existing gambling education programme, which has been promoting youth gambling education and prevention across Scotland since 2016. Currently, the Gambling Education Hub is the only national gambling education programme in Scotland.
The mission of the Hub is to make it possible for every young person in Scotland to have access to gambling education and prevention opportunities. The project uses a harm reduction approach and provides tailored support to practitioners working with young people and families in a variety of sectors.
If you are interested in having Flutter performed at your school or would like some more information, please contact warren@fastforward.org.uk or phone the Fast Forward Office on 0131 554 4300.