Banner Theatre presents Wild Geese, a new show about work, migration and the search for security in a global economy

"What would it take for you to leave everything you have, to leave your family, to travel half way around the world in the back of a lorry, to go to a country that doesn't want you? How desperate would you have to be?" - Cockle-picker support worker in Morecambe

"Most of the cleaners are on poverty wages. The London living wage is a minimum £6.70 an hour, most cleaners are around about £5.20 mark. They are on minimum holidays, about 12 days a year, no sick pay, no pensions. We're dealing with Canary Wharf, which houses some of the most powerful and richest companies in the world - Bank of America, City Group and HSBC which made £7 billion pounds profit last year." - Transport & General Workers Union organiser in London
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Since April 2005 Birmingham-based Banner Theatre has been touring Wild Geese, a video ballad production about exile, migration and the global search for work and security at the beginning of the 21st century.

Banner is a touring company specialising in music and song-based documentary theatre. Each Banner production uses the real-life experiences of disadvantaged or excluded groups, and stories that are rarely heard, collected through video and audio interviews. For Wild Geese the company has spoken to Irish, Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants in the West Midlands, African and Latin American refugees working in London's Canary Wharf and Chinese migrant workers from around Morecambe Bay.

Banner's video-ballad productions interweave video interviews, archive film footage and other graphic and photographic material with live performance, and feature a strong emphasis on music and song. Stories and songs are woven together to produce powerful, hard-hitting and moving theatre, and the company's performing team of Jilah Bakhshayesh, Dave Rogers and Fred Wisdom combines the musical traditions of four continents - Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Reggae, rock, folk, jazz and Middle Eastern musical styles are intertwined to produce a rich and diverse musical experience.

"Our new show highlights some of the contradictions and hypocrisy about migrant workers in present-day Britain, and how parts of the British economy depend on migrant labour whilst, at the same time, these workers are often condemned by parts of the UK media for daring to come to Britain," says Banner's artistic director Dave Rogers.

"Last year, the death of over 20 Chinese cockle pickers, drowned in Morecambe Bay, highlighted the plight of migrant workers in Britain, working for poverty wages in appalling conditions and with no legal redress. With this show we aim to make people more aware of the real-life stories of migrant workers in Britain."

Wild Geese is touring during October 2006. The tour schedule is available at bannertheatre.co.uk/tour_schedule.htm

More information about Wild Geese is available from Banner Theatre on 0845 458 1909 (email: info@bannertheatre.co.uk), from Ian Gasse on 01743 357551 or from Banner's artistic director Dave Rogers on 0121 682 0730 or 0783 223 0511.

Notes to editors: The Banner Theatre company was formed in 1974 by a group of performers, musicians and broadcasters, including former BBC documentary producer Charles Parker, who, with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, created the pioneering and award-winning series of radio ballads for the BBC in the 1960s.

A songbook/history, Singing the Changes (price £12.50 plus £2.50 p&p) and a new CD, Wild Geese, (price £12.00 plus £2.00 p&p) with songs from the new production and from Migrant Voices, a Banner show which toured during 2003 and 2004, are both available. For more information about them and about the company ring 0845 458 1909 or visit www.bannertheatre.co.uk

Banner Theatre and Wild Geese have received funding support from the Arts Council of England, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Community Empowerment Network, Comic Relief, the European Social Fund and the Sir Barry Jackson Trust. Banner also receives support from the Baring Foundation.

Banner Theatre's Wild Geese tour features Jilah Bakhshayesh (musician/performer), Pam Bishop (tour organiser), Dave Butler (administration), Matthew Cook (technician), Charlie Davis (technical manager), Gaylan Narzhad musician/performer), Dave Rogers (performer/ writer) and Fred Wisdom (musician/performer). The show was directed by Don Bouzek of Ground Zero Productions, Edmonton, Canada.

Photographs are available for publicity purposes. Browse through the small images displayed at bannertheatre.co.uk/photos and let us know which you would like. We will then send the full size images by email.