As part of The Walk, an international arts festival moving from Syria to the UK, The Refugee Tales project will present an evening of tales and music.
Founded in 2015, Refugee Tales shares the stories of people who have experienced indefinite immigration detention in the UK in order to call for detention to end.
Hosted by Niamh Cusack, the evening will feature readings by Patience Agbabi, AJ and Bidisha, and music by Liran Donin’s 1000 Boats.
The special event is part of an amazing day that will see Little Amal, a 3.5m high refugee puppet, walk with 350 school children from the Cathedral to the University campus. As a gift to help her on her journey, Refugee Tales will present Amal with a copy of Refugee Tales.
Niamh Cusak is a well known face from our stage and screen. She most recently shot feature film THE LITTLE PEOPLE directed by Jon Wright. Pre-covid she appeared at the National Theatre Olivier in the much anticipated MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, playing ‘Lenu’ and as ‘Lady Macbeth’ at the Barbican, opposite Chris Eccleston in MACBETH, and has featured in a range of TV productions.
Patience Agbabi, FRSL, is a poet and performer, whose work has been inspired by Chaucer, among many others. Her volume, Telling Tales (2014), remixes Chaucer’s Middle-English masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, offering a 21st-century take on the characters, its poetry and its performance elements. Patience Agbabi often tours her performances of Telling Tales across the UK and is also a contributor to and supporter of the Refugee Tales project. Simon Armitage described Telling Tales as “the liveliest versions of Chaucer you’re likely to read.”
Bidisha is a broadcaster, journalist and film-maker. She specialises in human rights, social justice and the arts and offers political analysis, arts critique and cultural diplomacy tying these interests together. She writes for the main UK broadsheets and broadcasts for BBC TV and radio, ITN, CNN, ViacomCBS and Sky News. Her fifth book, Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices of London, is based on her outreach work in UK prisons, refugee charities and detention centres.
Born in Tel Aviv, Liran Donin is a bass player, album producer and composer, currently based in London. With his distinctive deep toned bass, an inventive sound design and lyrical approach to composing/song writing Liran is carving a unique and original soundscape in his performances, compositions and album productions.
