Wiltshire Creative And All The Queens Men Announce The European Première Of Congress At Salisbury Cathedral

Wiltshire Creative and All The Queens Men today announce the UK premiere of Congress on 29 October, 7:30pm Salisbury Cathedral.

This extraordinary one-night-only event is supported by the UK/Australia Season Patrons, the British Council, the Australian Council for the Arts via the Australian Government and is presented as part of the UK/Australia Season 2021-22. Congress is produced and presented by Wiltshire Creative and created by Australian artists All The Queens Men.

Created by Australian Independent arts company All The Queens Men, Congress will invite eight members of the Salisbury community to make their first ever public speech within the iconic setting of Salisbury Cathedral, home to one of the earliest examples of social democracy - the Magna Carta. Working alongside local wordsmiths, they will put voice to the experiences, issues and hopes that shape their lives and their connections to the city they call home; reflecting on the journeys that have brought them to Salisbury, the community that keeps them there, and their personal visions for the future. These unique speeches will be presented alongside new work from local movement groups, expressing their own responses to these deeply personal and widely relevant manifestos.

Congress is a celebration of individuality, providing a vital platform for voices that go unheard. It gives a human face to unique stories that may sit outside preconceived ideas of a particular community, encouraging everyone to engage with change and transformation. Pairing ritualised performance with personal experience, it will create a true citizens assembly.

The diverse group of individuals who will share their words will include those who have been a part of the community since birth, as well as those for whom the city is a place of recent sanctuary. Their work, in collaboration with a local wordsmith, can only be witnessed in this one context, in this one venue and on one, very special, night.

Creators All The Queens Men said today: "Congress intentionally works against stereotypical representations of the 'other' by providing a platform for direct address to the public. It puts faces, and names, and stories to 'difference', subverting dominant narratives of what it means to be living in our contemporary and hugely inter-connected world. The people from Salisbury who are collaborating on this project are brilliant voices who deserve your attention."

Louise Dancy of Wiltshire Creative said: "We are delighted to be presenting Congress with All The Queens Men in the powerful setting of Salisbury Cathedral. This one time only event represents all that is important to Wiltshire Creative by putting the community and artists at the heart of the work, providing a unique creative platform for the often underrepresented to be heard through this dynamic international collaboration. This defining event is shaping what we do and how we do it. I challenge anyone not to be changed by it, whether you are taking part or witnessing as an audience member."

Wordsmith, Dr Olu Taiwo teaches Acting, Immersive and Digital performance as well as physical theatre at the University of Winchester. He has a background in Fine Art, Street Dance, African percussion, physical theatre, martial arts, T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Animal spirit movement. He is currently finishing a Spoken word tour with double Grammy award winning percussionist Lekan Babalola and his Jazz ensemble. He is the Director of Transcultural studies as part of the newly created institute of the Making of the Actor based in Athens. His publications range from, The Return Beat, Music, Art and Movement among the Yoruba: in Harvey, to Art as Eudaimonia: Embodied identities, Identity, performance and technology: practices of empowerment, embodiment and technicity.

Wordsmith, Veronica Dewan has been writing for theatre since 2012. Her Commissions include, She is Not Herself and On Hold (Kali Theatre), Come to Where I'm From (Pains Plough). Extracts from The Half-Daughter were broadcast on BBC Radio Wiltshire. Her play Aftercare and Wild Allegations of well-known delinquents are in development.

Wordsmith, Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh is an Opera Libretto Doctoral Artistic Researcher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Her work opera work as a librettist has been seen at Milton Court Barbican, Aldeburgh Festival and at the Royal Opera House. She is an experienced dramaturg of dance and her practice includes circus, visual arts and poetry. Nazli is the Associate Director of the Glasgow based Sanctuary Queer Arts. Her award-winning theatre directing includes new writing for The National Theatre of Scotland, Traverse Theatre and The Bush, London. She has directed and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and has toured to venues in Scotland, England and Wales. In the autumn of 2022 Nazli will be directing The Tempest for the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Nazli is also the deputy chairperson of the inaugural Independent Equity Committee at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Wordsmith, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa is a British born Barbadian raised poet, dancer and choreographer. Her interdisciplinary art, braids dance and poetry on the page and stage. She is also a PhD student in Cultural Studies. Safiya is an Obsidian Foundation fellow and an Apples & Snakes/Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance recipient. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals including Poetry London, Poetry Review and Wasafiri. Safiya is also a national and international spoken word champion and came third place in The London Magazine Poetry Prize (2022). Her first collection Cane, Corn & Gully is forthcoming with Out-Spoken Press in November 2022.

Wordsmith, Jayne Woodhouse has been a professional writer for over thirty years. Her first publications were children's history books and curriculum resources for schools. Later, she moved into writing fiction, with a trilogy of novels for 8-11 year-olds and an eBook collection of short stories for adults. Jane's short and full-length plays have been performed in fringe theatres in London, Brighton and Salisbury. She also co-runs her own small theatre company: Loosely Based Theatre, which has produced four of Jane's plays.Jane teaches creative writing here in Salisbury, and her recent teaching experience includes opportunities to explore writing for well-being, through her roles as Writer in Residence for Horatio's Garden at Salisbury District Hospital and as one of the artist facilitators for Well City Salisbury.

Hannah Treadaway is a writer, director, coach and access consultant. Hannah is a Connect Artist of the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme and alumni of Graeae's Write to Play scheme and Sphinx Theatre's Sphinx 30 Writers. She has worked with a range of companies including Folio Theatre, Graeae, Diverse City, Wiltshire Creative, Wyldwood Arts, RTYDS, Nuffield Theatre, Lighthouse Poole, Taking Flight, DANC, HighTide and the Bunker. Hannah has worked with Wiltshire Creative many times and is excited to be working with them again on this project alongside All the Queen's Men.

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury

SP1 2EJ

Please find link to purchase tickets here: https://www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk/whats-on/festival/congress-2022/.

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