CYA Sofa Safari in Coventry city centre? Tell us more!

The sun was smiling down on Coventry Youth Activists’ (CYA) performance for youth loneliness last Saturday (25 May).

CYA and their sofa were at Broadgate in the city centre to raise awareness of the troubling statistic that one in three young disabled people spend less than an hour outside of home on a Saturday.

Open Theatre Company provided the artistic direction to the ‘sofa safari’ performance dreamed up by CYA, and the safari element was made possible by Imagineer UK giving movement to the sofa through wheels.

All told, it was an attention grabbing event that disrupted the bustling shopping area’s usual Saturday happenings and propelled a group of determined young people straight into the spotlight.

CYA’s Lily explains: “We fight for disabled people’s rights… they can be kind of bored and alone and we want to change that. So people can get out more and be accepted and just make everyone feel they fit in.

“So we thought if we did this, it would get it out more so people would find out about it.”

And they have. A very big well done and thank you to all of you.

Here’s our pick of the best pics – click to enlarge each photo. Find out more about CYA and how you might like to join in here.

Rehearsals at EGO Performance Company.

Performance preparations.

Show time!

Photographs by John Whitmore Photography | Follow @thedarkshed on Instagram.