Across the UK many towns and cities have witnessed an influx of people who clearly have few historical ties with the local region. These people are legal residents. They are officially labelled asylum seekers or refugees. http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Asylum+Seekers+-+background+information?opendocument
They might dress differently, speak other languages, and their English could be heavily accented. But despite British National Party claims that they are rorting the system, asylum seekers do not live a life of luxury.
The most likely place to find asylum seekers is on a council estate. Although regardless of where they end up refugees are easy targets for anyone motivated by intolerance, xenophobia, or with a chip on their shoulder.
For these reasons and more, iceandfire theatre company is using performance art to put a spotlight on the stories told by displaced people now living in the UK.
iceandfire has a solid reputation for putting on productions that deal with issues of displacement and conflict. The company has close ties with Amnesty International UK and officially came into being on 27 January 2003.
This date is commemorated worldwide as Holocaust Day. It is especially symbolic for iceandfire given that founder and writer/director Sonja Linden‘s family were Jewish and German refugees.
