Micky Dacks, eyes gleaming with the vision for his passion, his work, and his story to be reborn once again, said: “When I came out of prison in 2001, I literally woke up and spoke the words ‘I Never Want to Return’ to myself – which became one of the songs in Innit.”
‘Innit the Musical’ is set to play at the Lowry next September to start a debate towards the education system’s flaws and young crime in Salford. It also promises to be free to watch for as many young people as can fit in the theatre.
Micky, 43, was open and comfortable when telling his story. He told of the time he had carried knives “to be clever”, he told of the gangs he had joined, how they threatened school bullies and how they “use them as a battering ram into one of the old-fashioned bus stops”, and finally, the incident of a burglary crime on a bike shop which led him to prison.
He said: “I got involved in all sorts of things that I shouldn’t have got involved in, not by my own fault, I was easily led. I was one of those sorts of kids that just joined and latched on to things.
“Had that situation have been managed in a different way things could have been different. But they didn’t, unfortunately, and that’s why I do what I do. Because, 30 years on, I’m still going into schools, and I’m still seeing young kids still being left out, still being excluded, and still being left to walk the streets and be picked up by all sorts of people when they’re vulnerable and it’s wrong.”
Micky founded Salford’s Innit for Young People (I4YPC) charity in 2019, with the intention to gain funds for the ‘Innit’ programme. The programme aims to spread awareness on the problematic seclusion of the troubled youth, a problem which Micky experienced and led to the life he sometimes regrets.
When describing the programme, Micky said that it is about bringing a Salfordian story of struggle and class division, to young people, to teach the consequences of crime and the threat that seclusion can bring to young minds.
Before it had music, ‘Innit’ was only a set of poems that Micky had written in his prison cell. Suicidal thoughts, young caring, absentee parents, homelessness and more themes are explored through the mind of someone who experienced them all himself. He said: “The play is based around my own experiences of prison, setting fires, social services, the system…
“Some people have said to us ‘What are you? What’s your charity about?’ And we tell them ‘We support young people’ and they go ‘UGH’. It’s like, you don’t understand that actually young people that we support that we work with, that are now 12 to 14 years old, are going to be tomorrow’s workforce, and if organisations like us don’t exist, then the workforce is going to be really restricted.”
While creating a musical to deter youth from crime and the temptation of knife crime, I4YPC also debates the education system’s ability to prevent young crime in the first place. From a change in curriculum, to awareness for the exclusion of troubled and unprivileged teens, I4YPC is adamant that these issues need to be properly addressed if any positive change is to come to Salford.
Ange Lea, 45, chair and director of education for I4YPC, said: “The education system is not fit for purpose. It follows a curriculum that was written over 30 years ago, and it’s not changed. But the children have. The society has.
“Education is in need to play catch up. I don’t think it’s just Salford. Exclusion or seclusions for troubled teens don’t work because you’re not getting to the root of the actual problem, all they’re doing is passing the problem on, and it just doesn’t work. That’s across the whole nation. It’s not just solved.”
She continued: “I hope that what we’re providing makes people in charge, like the Department of Education, realise that the education system needs an overhaul. It is needed immediately for the young people in Salford.
“We hope that our programme, in winter 2023, gives them aspiration, makes them want to stay in school, it makes them kind of reflect on their own behaviours and their own attitudes, and keeps them in school rather than getting excluded and going down that wrong path.”
I4YPC has five permanent volunteer Trustee Members and three volunteer staff, as well as multiple young volunteers. All of them had different opinions on the play and its importance in Salford’s youth.
Dr. Rebecca Patterson, 58, a mentor trainee at Manchester Metropolitan University and trustee at I4YPC said: “We can’t stop every event occurring. Because that’s life, isn’t it? Things happen. Nobody plans to go out and get stabbed or to stab. But where they’re encouraged is an amnesty, you know, to get rid of those to stop carrying knives. It’s your world, you don’t know there’s another world. So this is about finding out that there is another world. There’s an alternative.”
Not only the volunteers commented on the musical’s importance, but also students who decided to take part in the November auditions. Charlotte Kirton, 17, a student at Manchester College who auditioned for the role of Stacy, said: “I have been in situations where there are people even in my school who may have got involved with that… And that shouldn’t be the case. You shouldn’t know someone who owns a knife who does this, you shouldn’t know people who do dangerous things like that.”
Innit is setting itself apart from any other musical at the Lowry, from its modern true origins to its message. In its run, the musical’s free accessibility will reach hundreds of young people.
Innit will be playing at the Lowry on September 23, 2023. The auditions have halted for main roles, but extra casting calls are set to be called soon. For more information visit the charity’s website.
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