After a successful initial tour last Autumn that saw nearly 500 refugee audience members and multiple sell-out performances in London (Rich Mix and Canada Water) Leeds Playhouse, Manchester Home, Derby Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse and Theatre Clwyd, All the Beds I Have Slept In is returning with a new version and new refugee cast from Afghanistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Morocco.
Using a simple set of just a bed on stage, the play recalls the hundreds of beds the actors have slept in on their journeys from their homelands to the UK. It explores the kindness of strangers who offered help, from a guard in a Greek detention centre to a passenger at a train station who shared a room in his house, these are the real people who kept the actors moving forward. It also tells the fictional story of Sameer (Syed Haleem Najibi) and Natty (Tewodros Aregawe) created out of hundreds of refugee experiences we’ve heard. First meeting in a foster home in London they stay best friends, only Sameer has Right to Remain and Natty doesn’t, so their lives take very different paths. All The Beds I have Slept In uses Phosphoros’ trademark wit and energy to reveal the intimacy created between friends when family is absent, and how to stay hopeful in a world that isn’t fair.
Involving refugee audiences
For the first time Bristol Old Vic will be inviting refugee young people and budding artists from around the UK to contribute material to their show, which will be shared in performances in each location. These moments will be developed during drama workshops with local refugee youth groups, led by our actors, exploring and reflecting on the themes of the play. In Bristol we Bristol Old Vic be working with Borderlands, a charity that exists to work with refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants to help them from exclusion to belonging.
The play reflects on these changes and what they mean for our company of refugee actors from who mostly came to the UK as unaccompanied children.
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