Under Canvas

October 2016

The Royal Exchange Theatre (part of B!rth Festival)

Also:

February 2017, Bolton Library, with Bolton Octagon (part of Reveal Festival)

July 2017, Theatre in The Quarter, Chester (part of The Lost Boy)

September 2017, Salford University (as part of TaPRA conference)

November 2017, Hope Mill Theatre (part of Be//longing)

We were privileged to create an installation and audio exploration of stories of Birth in refugee camps. The piece was commissioned as part of the B!rth Festival, at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

We transformed a tent into an installation, working with textile artist Laura Faithfull, who designed the outer panels around the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We approached 14 writers to respond to the direct stories and research we had collated, both through our own time volunteering within camps in Calais and Dunkirk, and also from interviews and stories from other volunteers.

We were keen to explore statelessness in refugee camps and the stories of mothers who have given birth.

Textile Artist:

Laura Faithful

Sound Directors and Editors:

Justine Potter, Alan Williams, Eloise Whitmore

Music:

Alan Williams, cello by Jessica Langridge

Produced and Designed by:

Grant Archer, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Rebekah Harrison

Writers:

Rebekah Harrison, Ian Kershaw, Lindsay Williams, Louise Wallwein, Furquan Akhtar, Andrew Barry, Sarah McDonald-Hughes, Cathy Crabb, Jenny Platt, Rupert Hill, Victoria Brazier, Sandra Cole, Lisa Holdsworth, Zoe Iqbal.

Actors:

Maxine Peake, Sandra Cole, Louise Wallwein, Cathy Crabb, Zoe Iqbal, Victoria Brazier, Jenny Platt, Ruper Hill, Matilda Hill, Shobna Gulati, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Sarah McDonald-Hughes, Caleb Potter, Lisa Holdsworth, Alan Williams, members of the Royal Exchange World Wide Workshop.

The installation is available for display. Please get in touch if you would like to chat with us about it.