Our main focus this week has been preparation and rehearsal for our show – If Music Be The Food of Love, which will be taking to the stage in the Everyman Studio on Monday 2nd July. However, on Friday, we took a break from rehearsals to participate in a workshop with a theatre company called Ice and Fire – something which turned out to be one of the most inspirational examples of the power of performance that we have seen this year.

Ice and Fire are a company who explore human rights stories through performance. The workshop focused on their current piece – Asylum Monologues, which uses verbatim accounts of people seeking asylum in the UK and their journeys through the asylum process, to create powerful theatre. These stories are harrowing, shocking and disturbing, showing the remarkable resilience and dignity of those thrown into a system which is arduous, deliberately complicated and often incredibly lengthy.

The workshop was both informative and enjoyable. We began by attempting to sort the various elements of the asylum process into some kind of order – a task we found impossible. None of us had any understanding of how complex the process is, or the number of different elements within it. We were dismayed to learn about some parts of the process – that those seeking asylum can be detained indefinitely in detention centres, and that people going through the process live with the possibility of deportation with no notice, at pretty much any time. It was a sobering and humbling experience.

Despite actor and facilitator Seb’s constant apologies for making us feel a bit miserable, there were moments of fun. One of these was when we played a game based on the UK Citizenship test – something it seems that many of us would fail. The quiz included questions about British history (which Scottish King was victorious at the Battle of Bannockburn? What was stamped on Iron Age coins?) as well as the current political system. We were in teams, and two of the three teams did fairly well; however, we discussed how we would feel if these were questions about a country other than the one we grew up in, posed in a language other than our own.

We returned in the evening to watch the performance of Asylum Monologues. This wasn’t a performance as we are used to, but a reading of three intertwined monologues, telling the very different stories of three individuals and their experiences leading to them coming to the UK to seek asylum. The performers were keen to point out that the stories remain the property of those who told them, and that they, as actors, have no desire to impersonate or “perform” the scripts. It was surprising how truthful and touching this approach was.  The evening concluded with a discussion, for which Ice and Fire were joined by two representatives of GARAS – Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

One of our students, Angel, summed up her experiences in an instagram post:

This week I was reminded how theatre has the power to change lives. We were invited this week to participate in a workshop and attend a performance with Ice and Fire UK amid refugee week – something I knew far too little about. Having had one of the most impactful three hours of my life filled with knowledge and testimony surrounding the Asylum process in this country – it became something that has truly broken my heart. This photograph shows in the simplest form the steps that an innocent asylum seeker fleeing conflict and torture will have to go through to be granted refuge in our country. This process can take years, and for some, is refused time and time again by the system we have in place. I have always been compassionate towards those living in danger but from today I will no longer be comfortable to be simply a bystander to disguised slave labour and emotional torture happening on our country. It just takes giving someone else a voice that doesn’t have one, to begin making a difference – Ice and Fire have provided a beautiful and powerful platform, working alongside refugees who have been so brave as to share their stories. Let that bravery not go unseen. Raise awareness, raise money, raise a voice – money and power should not outweigh human rights.