We Share the Same Sky

From autumn 2008 we will be touring with a new show, We Share the Same Sky, based on the real-life stories and experiences of migrant workers, refugees and others who have come to the UK from other countries.

The project is being developed in South Yorkshire, with support from the Academy for Community Leadership based at Northern College near Barnsley, where the company is working with Afghani refugees, asylum seekers and campaigners, and in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, with support from Urban Living, where we will be working with African-Caribbean and Asian communities and Polish migrant workers.

These two units will be augmented with other material about developments in Latin America and, in particular, in Venezuela, where the reforming government of Hugo Chavez, with enormous popular working-class support, is using oil revenues for the benefit of the poor and dispossessed.

The aim of the show is to explore the impact of globalization and migration trends as they are affecting communities and the world of work in the UK. Set against that will be the stories from Venezuela to show what a radical government with a social agenda to deliver services and improve the lives of the poor, the dispossessed and the working classes, can do to challenge the power of global corporations.

The show will be developed in spring and summer ready for touring in the autumn with further touring in 2009.    

"They get free mobiles..don’t they?"

Banner is continuing to tour during 2008 with "They get free mobiles..don’t they?" a re-worked version of the earlier Strangers in Paradise Circus production developed with asylum seekers, refugees and host communities in Birmingham and Solihull.

The show combines theatre, live music and song with video interviews and archive film to tell the stories of some of Britain’s newest arrivals – including Nellie from Zimbabwe, Michael from the Congo, Sherzad from Kurdistan – as they dodge borders, bullets and bureaucracy in their quest for safety and security from war-torn lands in Africa and the Middle East.

Using a rich tapestry of musical styles from rock, rap and reggae to blues, folk and jazz "They get free mobiles...don't they?" highlights the human stories of people who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and cuts through the myths, lies and prejudice surrounding the search for sanctuary in England’s green but sometimes not so pleasant land.

An excellent performance which conveyed a powerful message effectively and with great humanity. Thanks! – University of Northampton Equalities Officer

Excellent performance. Brilliant script. Content well researched and delivered. Congratulations to all involved – Assistant Manager, Volunteer Centre

I thought the show was fantastic. It would do well in schools and bigger theatres. Very powerful and moving – Retired Teacher

Banner's Anti-Racist Work
Banner has created shows challenging racism from its earliest days. In 1974 the company developed and performed the Race Show and in 1977 toured The Great Divide, a show highlighting the activities of the National Front. And in 1995 the company produced Sweat Shop, a show exposing the exploitation of South Asian women workers in Smethwick in the West Midlands.

In 2001 Banner worked with the Fire Brigades Union and its black and ethnic minority section, b@em, to explore the extent of racism and institutional racism in the UK fire service and developed Black and White in the Red, a show (with accompanying CD), which toured fire stations as part of a racism awareness training programme.

Then, in 2002/3 the company developed Migrant Voices, a show based on the real-life experience of Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers and refugees, which has toured from 2003 to 2006.

In 2005/6 another production Wild Geese looked at migration from the point of view of migrants, intertwining the stories of Irish nurses from the 1950s, Asian textile workers from the 1960s, refugees in the 1980s and Chinese cockle-pickers in 2003/4.

Most recently, Strangers in Paradise Circus was based on the real-life experience of asylum seekers and refugees in Birmingham in order to challenge racism and the spread of racist attitudes.

Trade Union Education with the WEA

Banner has developed a three-year partnership with the West Midlands Workers Educational Association (WEA) to create a series of music- and video-based workshop sessions for trade union education classes in the West Midlands region.

Part-funded by the Department of International Development’s Development Awareness Fund – with additional support from Birmingham City Council and Unity Theatre Trust – Banner is developing short performance pieces and popular education workshops based on social, economic and political developments in African countries and other parts of the South, such as Latin America and the Middle East. The project will also include the production, in 2009/10, of an educational DVD about these issues.

During 2007/8 the workshops are being based on interviews with refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo who are currently living in Birmingham and will highlight their real-life experiences and the developments in Congo, which have torn that country apart and compelled them to seek refuge in the UK. Other countries will be the focus of new pieces for 2008/9 and 2009/10.

1st of May Band

Banner Theatre's 1st of May Band builds on the company's 30-year tradition of working in the trade union movement, from the NUM to the NUJ and from UCATT to Unison. We are the only theatre company in Britain with a dynamic cultural commitment to the trade union movement and offer fast-moving, hard-edged, relevant entertainment for rallies, socials, conferences and educational schools.

Click here for more details

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