Bristol Old Vic welcomes 'Little Amal' to the city to mark refugee week

In 2021, Little Amal, the giant puppet of a young Syrian refugee child, captured the world’s imagination by walking 8,000 km across Europe to focus our attention on the urgent needs of young refugees. 

Image: Little Amal. Credit: The Walk productions © Wouter Vellekoop.

That attention is now even more urgent and on Friday 24 June, to mark refugee week and Bristol as a City of Sanctuary, Little Amal - whose name means "hope" in Arabic - comes to Bristol.

Bristol is honoured to be a host location for the second leg of Little Amal's visit to the UK alongside places including Birmingham and Stonehenge. Presented by Bristol Old Vic and partners The Walk Productions, Bristol City Council and West of England Combined Authority, Little Amal’s walk through the city will be an invitation to everyone to join in and give her a warm Bristolian welcome. 

Little Amal’s Bristol journey will begin at 4pm outside Bristol Old Vic on King Street and then via Welsh Back to Bristol's famous St Nicholas Market and historic Corn Street - hearing music and watching performances by local artists and meeting local communities - before leaving the city at the Harbour.

Little Amal is being delivered as one of the activities under the City Centre and High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority’s Love Our High Street project.

The giant 3.5m puppet of Little Amal was created by Handspring Puppet Company, the team behind the runaway hit production War Horse, co-directed by Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director Tom Morris. 

Speaking today, Tom Morris said: "We are excited to welcome Little Amal to Bristol to meet the community, to see our beautiful city and to find out more about Bristol’s status as a City of Sanctuary. Amal travels everywhere with a spirit of curiosity.  By welcoming her to Bristol we will also learn from her, understanding more about our own complicated past and our dream of being a fairer and more welcoming city in the future."