Inspired by our summer 2021 project South London Stories, Southwark Children & Families commissioned London Bubble to produce Southwark Stories – a series of short films made with parents, care leavers, foster carers and social workers in Southwark.

The Council recruited six participants who we then paired with professional writers to explore the lives and journeys of the people that mattered most to them. Collaborative sessions took place mostly digitally, and out of them came inspired characters with carefully crafted monologues.

Filmed on location around Southwark, these monologues resulted in an extremely powerful artistic endeavour; six very separate but complimentary films depicting different experiences of the care system and exploring themes including trust, protection, authority, communication, trauma, loss and hope.

As not all participants chose to perform their monologues, this created employment opportunities for five actors, four of whom came through Bubble’s Young Theatre Makers programme and all five of whom were South East Londoners! The creative team had a variety of personal experience regarding the care system; including being the birth child of a fostering family, an adoptive parent and sitting on a fostering panel.

The films will be used by Southwark Children & Families in the recruitment and retention of social workers and foster carers.