Learn more about your neighbour
THEATRE company Maison Foo has secured almost £50,000 of Arts Council funding to develop ground-breaking refugee projects across the UK.
This multi-sensory experience in the form of an installation called ‘Meet Your Neighbour’, will celebrate and give voice to many of the people that make up the sanctuary-seeking community in the UK.
Using audio recordings of stories collected from Refugee and Asylum seekers, the project aims to connect audiences with some of their newly arrived neighbours. Stories range from favourite homeland memories and favourite recipes to love stories, songs or poems.
You might find ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ in your local library, high street or school. Mysterious boxes will be piled high, like a new neighbour unpacking their things in your street. Inside each box is a glimpse of their lives, their favourite things, and clues about who lives within… The experience invites you to explore these boxes, to find a place to sit for a few minutes, have a brew, and listen to a tale or two.
The finished experience will be toured alongside the company’s latest show ‘A Thing Mislaid’ in 2021 as part of Maison Foo’s plan to engage and meet not only audiences who visit theatres but also those who live in the communities that surround them.
During 2020 the piece will be developed in three cities – Derby, Leicester and Sheffield.
Bethany Sheldon, artistic director of Maison Foo said, “After our successful preview tour of ‘A Thing Mislaid’ last year (a show that touches on themes of migration) we came away feeling that we didn’t just want to tour this show into theatres in isolation, but we also wanted to connect people and build stronger communities in the places we toured too.
“The ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ strand of our work is all about helping to create positive moments for and about the sanctuary seeking community in the UK. It’s about welcoming people as neighbours into our communities, it’s about breaking down barriers, getting to know one another and hopefully making new friends too.
“So whether that’s through someone who stops to have a cup of tea and listen to a refugee’s story at our ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ installation on their high street, or someone who comes along to one of our ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ parties, we hope as a Theatre Company of Sanctuary we can do our bit to build a welcoming and supportive community in the places we visit.”
The company will test early ideas at Derby Theatre on Saturday, December 14, when Maison Foo will be co-hosting their third ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ party event with Derby Theatre and Derby Refugee Advice Centre.
After the initial development, Maison Foo will be collecting stories from Sanctuary seekers in Leicester, working with Art Reach and Journeys Festival and will test the second stage of the installation at Attenborough Arts, Leicester in April 2020.