Second Wave community group. Photo: Second Wave

The charity will perform their play Swagga, a story about gang culture, at their annual Symposium held at the centre in Deptford on December 11. The conference will also include talks from community leaders, young people and members of the outreach team.

Swagga took centre-stage at Sedgehill School in Bellingham on November 19 in Lewisham as part of Second Wave’s outreach work.

The performance was followed up with drama workshops that included young people and plain-clothes local police as well as outreach workers. The workshops were designed to build trust and understanding through role-playing activities that addressed policies like stop and search.

Swagga tells the story of gang culture and is inspired by Shakespeare’s Richard III, comic book heroes and graphic novels.

Ann Considine, Director of Second Wave said: “Our communities need the continual support of the police. In equal measure, the police need the recognition and encouragement of the communities they serve.  Partnership of this kind is inevitably a gradual process of increasing dialogue and trust.”