Badac Theatre's THE JOURNEY To Tour Both Theatre And Non Theatre Spaces

Badac Theatre's The Journey is a compelling, fearless, intense and immersive slice of drama that is true to the experiences of refugees from across the globe fleeing conflict and, sometimes, certain death. Taking in both theatre and non-theatre venues it tours nationally in November and December following a premiere at Colchester Arts Centre on 31 October and London dates at Draper Hall, Elephant & Castle on 2nd and 3rd November. Dates are at www.badactheatre.com

To research the play director Steve Lambert visited Lebanon and camps on the Syrian border to learn of the desperate measures people can be forced to endure as they strive to survive. In the UK he worked with refugee communities and support organisations as well as Edinburgh based poet Ghazi Hussain, a former Palestinian refugee who fled Syria to escape torture and imprisonment - and was twice repatriated before being given leave to stay in Britain.

Describing her views on the refugee crisis actor Juliet Stevenson, who took a refugee family into her home, said 'We have a legal and moral obligation to protect people fleeing bombs, bullets and tyrants, and throughout history those people have enriched our society.'

Central characters in the play are a displaced mother and child who struggle to hold darkness and despair at bay during a punishing trek from their devastated, war ravaged homeland to a destination of perceived safety and security.

Steve Lambert noted 'All over the world people are being forced to flee their homes to escape war, racial and religious persecution and sometimes worse. Often the countries they seek refuge in treat them as at best inconvenient and sometimes as undesirable, unwelcome and a threat. Perhaps if we had a better understanding of what they have been through we may be better able to show compassion. No one abandons their home if that home is safe and welcoming'.

The Journey tells of the emotional, psychological and physical effects experienced by those forced to flee their homes.

Since the company's launch in 1999, Badac Theatre Company has become established as one of the UK's most controversial and confrontational theatre companies. As creators of extreme political art and adherents of Antonin Artaud's 'Theatre of Cruelty' their unflinching work is brave, dark, all consuming and stunning in every meaning of the word. Highlighting rights violations around the world it provokes extreme reactions and polarises critics and audiences alike. Many find its brutality intensely moving and affecting, some leave, shocked and shaken. www.badactheatre.com

Battersea Arts Centre described Badac as one of British Theatre's best kept secrets and actor, writer and director said Steven Berkoff added 'The visceral power of Badac's work is extremely rare'.

On tour the play will be performed in a mix of both theatre and non-theatre spaces, in areas with a refugee population and with low engagement with the arts. 'It's too easy to just go to the usual touring theatre's and NPO Arts Centre's' said Lambert. 'Audiences can watch a show for an hour then return to comfortable warm homes to talk about inequality. I want to try to reach people who know about injustice from first hand experience'.

Tour dates
The Journey by Badac Theatre Company
A passionately compelling, fearless, intense and immersive slice of drama that is true to the experiences of refugees from across the globe, fleeing conflict and, sometime, certain death.

Preview Wednesday 31st October - 8.00pm £pay what you can
Colchester Arts Centre, Church Street CO1 1NF
£pay what you can 01206 500900 www.colchesterartscentre.com

Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd November 7.30pm
London Draper Hall 1 Howell Walk London SE1 6TL (Elephant & Castle Tube, buses 12, 68, 148, 171, 176, 468)
£10/£8 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theatre-draperhall-the-journey-2-3-november-tickets-50144314996

Wednesday 7th November 8.00pm
Norwich Arts Centre St Benedict's Street NR2 4PG
£pay what you can 01603 660352 www.norwichartscentre.co.uk

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th November 7.30pm
Edinburgh The Out of the Blue Drill Hall 36 Dalmeny Street EH6 8RG
£10/£8 0131 555 7100 www.outoftheblue.org.uk

Monday 12th November 7.30pm
Morecambe The Alhambra Theatre 56 Marine Road Morecambe LA4 4EU
£12, £10 concs 01524 41142 www.thecarleton.co.uk

Wednesday 14th November 8.00pm
Newbury Arlington Arts Centre Mary Hare Snelsmore RG14 3BQ
£12, £10 concs, £8 schools 01635 244246 www.arlington-arts.com

Friday 16th November 8.00pm
Aldershot West End Centre 48 Queens Road GU11 3JD
£12, £10 concs, 01252 330040 www.westendcentre.co.uk

Saturday 17th November 7.30pm
Oxford North Oxford Association Community Centre Diamond Place Summertown OX2 7DP
£10, £8 concs www.northoxfordassociation.co.uk

Tuesday 20th November 7.30pm
Woodbridge Seckford Theatre Burkitt Road Suffolk IP12 4JH
£12, £10 concs www.seckfordtheatre.org/
Venue/Press marketing contact: Rachel Edwards redwards@woodbridgeschool.org.uk

Thursday 22nd November 7.30pm
Southend Folded Space, 3 Chichester Rd, Southend on Sea SS1 2JP
£10, £8 concs 01394 615042 www.theculturalassembly.com

Friday 30th November 7.30pm
Bedford Tavistock Community Centre Princess StreetMK40 2HA
£10, £8 concs www.bedford.gov.uk/community_and_living/community_centres/tavistock_community_centre.aspx

Thursday 6th December 7.30pm
Wisbech Rosmini Centre 69 Queens Road PE13 2PH
£10, £8 concs 01945 474422 www.rosminicentrewisbech.org

Friday 7th December 8.00pm
Great Yarmouth The Drill House York Road NR30 2LZ
£8, £6 concs 01493 745458 www.seachangearts.org.uk

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