Inside of our Theatre of Sanctuary, which sits inside of our City of Sanctuary, three stories have been created, which we would like to share with you in honour of national refugee week.
Lost Dreams, Hope After Tears by Yathreb Ramadhan
Judgement Day by Matthew Paul Sutherland
Statement of Love by Irina O’Sullivan
Yathreb, Matthew and Irina are part of the Sharing Cultures group, a partnership between Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre and Belgrade Theatre Coventry. The group looked for themes in “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”, a play performed at the Belgrade Theatre, devised by international touring theatre company, Complicité, based on the book by the same name. They identified the following themes: “Animals”, “Police”, “Revenge”, “Friendship”, “Murder” and “Judging People”. They then chose the theme they wanted to work with as the basis of their stories. Can you guess which one each of them chose?
They then worked with freelance filmmaker, Ayesha Jones, who filmed them reading their own stories. These will also be part of a festival, In the Meantime We Try, at the Belgrade Theatre which will take place on 15 July 2023. Find out more information about the festival here.
The Sharing Cultures group is part of the Integrate Coventry partnership project between Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre; FWT, a centre for women; and Belgrade Theatre Coventry. This project is part funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. Making management of migration flows more efficient across the European Union.