Where We Began (Image: SBC Theatre)
When: On until 11th November 2018
Where: Camden People’s Theatre, 58 – 60 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PY
£: Ticket prices vary, depending on the event
What is it?
No Direction Home, Camden People’s Theatre’s new festival exploring displacement, migration and refuge, takes place until Sunday 11th November. The festival asks what it means to be an exile, or a descendent of exiles, to whom do we owe refuge and who gets to make a home in Britain today.
Unofficial records state that since the early 1990s, nearly 35,000 people have died trying to reach Europe, not just at sea but in detention centres, asylum units and within their new communities. The recent Windrush scandal and changes in EU regulations have plunged thousands into uncertainty about if, and where, they belong, and every day people are forced to flee violence closer to home.
CPT’s new festival will recount stories of those in exile, ranging from those who have lived it to those who have inherited it, with topics including the de-funding of women’s refuges and the ongoing migrant crisis. From the heart-breaking to the heartwarming, this three-week event features workshops, discussions and new theatre from the brightest and boldest of UK and international artists.
Pappy’s Tom Parry
A highlight of the festival will be the No Direction Home Stand Up Night, a one night only, stand-up comedy gig, written and performed by refugees and migrants. CPT are partnering with Counterpoint Arts to feature a line-up of first-time comedians, coached for this special event by one third of sketch troupe Pappy’s, Tom Parry. Parry was nominated as Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2015, and this year directed the Best Newcomer-winning show, Ciaran Dowd – Don Rodolfo.
Performing from 6th to 10th November, Cash Carraway is a self-confessed ‘refuge connoisseur’ telling her story of how she and her daughter have tried to begin a new life free from domestic violence.
Refuge Woman is a spoken-word performance looking at the media portrayal of working-class women, government cuts to domestic violence services and life in a woman’s refuge. The show is supported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the performance on Thursday 8th November will be followed by a Q&A with local journalists who contributed to their research into domestic violence in Camden.
Haunting recollections of the media images of child refugees are evoked in Beyond the Blue (5th November), a new play for adults, written by children in response to the refugee crisis, that also offers a vivid and charming insight into a child’s view of the world.
In Pizza Shop Heroes, four refugee and asylum-seeking young men take us from a pizza shop, across centuries and continents to explore past, present and futures. This revealing, witty and lyrical show is based on the actors lived experiences and created by Phosphoros Theatre, whose previous productions include the acclaimed Dear Home Office.
Finally, Josh Gardner’s Laud of the Rings (30th – 31st November) recollects his monumental journey from Oxford to Istanbul dressed as Frodo Baggins, in an anarchic approach to performance that questions privilege and migration.
More info: www.cptheatre.co.uk
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