Intimacy direction for under 18s explored in BECTU working group

A working group has been created to explore intimacy direction for those under 18 working in performance.

The group aims to collaborate with relevant industry bodies to formulate guidance about safeguarding and highlight the risks involved in working with children and young people on scenes of an intimate nature.

It will look at how chaperones, producers, directors and intimacy professionals can play their part to make a set safe and supportive when working on material such as family stories – in which children may act alongside adults playing their parents, for instance.

It is being led by the Intimacy Coordinators Branch committee – a recorded media division at BECTU.

Intimacy coordinator Tigger Blaize is part of the group and has brought his expertise to productions at Jermyn Street Theatre, Marylebone Theatre and on Disney’s We Were the Lucky Ones.

Blaize said: "A particular grey area seems to be with performers between 16 and 18, where a chaperone and licence is not a requirement (though a young person’s chaperone is possible, and good practice)."

He said there had been "historical shortcomings" and said it was vital "to safeguard young performers in their workplace", warning that a young person’s long-term mental health "may be affected many years after an event".

"We are keen to let the industry know that intimacy directors can be incredibly valuable and supportive to the creative process in working with children who are telling stories in a family unit – familial touch is an area where IDs can facilitate conversation and help performers build a library of consensual actions and movement language together," he added, explaining this could include holding hands or a child giving an adult a hug.

Blaize also said that, compared with TV, live entertainment was "catching up fast and interested in engaging", but that intimacy directors were too often "brought in late" to a rehearsal process.

Blaize said engaging intimacy direction late in the day meant actors and productions lose out on vital "preparation and consideration", telling The Stage: "Sometimes actors are left waiting to work on a scene of intimacy, which can build up in an actor’s mind; and stall the flow of the piece."

He attributed these delays to issues including funding, uncertainty about where to source intimacy directors and perceptions of theatre as an inherently caring workspace.

Blaize suggested theatre was possibly considered "a slower and less pressured process" and "a more caring and collaborative process".

But he warned: "Even if this is the broad and accepted feeling around creative work in theatrical spaces, it cannot be taken for granted, and everyone benefits when we take into consideration the needs of more marginalised individuals."

In a fringe event in Birmingham organised as part of Equity’s annual conference on May 19, Blaize, who is vice chair of Equity’s LGBT+ committee, also discussed the varied role of intimacy coordination and misperceptions around the job.

He told attendees: "We are coordinating between all different departments. I will need to speak to props, I will need to speak to costume, I will speak to the legal department, I am coordinating with everybody [...] There is a lot of different parts of the role.

"That is why it is intimacy coordinating – we are juggling all these things. We are not just there to be a consent officer who stands there like the sex police, saying ′no, no, no’ and ′yes, yes, yes’. We are there to give a platform for everybody to bring their best work."