Refugee Week 2018: Where to celebrate Refugee Week in London

Refugee Week: Hundreds of events are going on all over the capital
Ellie Kurttz
Zoe Paskett15 June 2018

Refugee Week kicks off on June 18 and runs until June 24, with events of all kinds from theatre and arts, to talks and readings, film screenings and concerts.

It has been 20 years since the first Refugee Week but the aims haven’t changed: to facilitate positive encounters between refugees and others, showcasing their talent and contribution to the country, all the while looking for new ways to address issues and raise awareness. Ultimately, it’s to get us all to a place where refugees can live safely and happily in the UK.

Hundreds of arts events are taking place throughout the city in celebration and solidarity with refugees. We’ve rounded up just a few that you shouldn’t miss.

Enter the Jungle

The Calais Jungle camp may have been disappeared, but the people living there haven’t. The Jungle, by Good Chance theatre company who ran their theatre in a plastic dome in the camp for seven months, shows you life before it was demolished. The seats have been removed and replaced with an Afghan restaurant, with the cliffs of Dover in the background. The play premiered at the Young Vic last year and now transfers to the Playhouse Theatre in the West End.

June 16-November 3, Playhouse Theatre, WC2

Shakespeare’s response to refugees

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is running a festival of performances, discussions and storytelling exploring the Bard’s response to refugees. The programme includes Read Not Dead (where actors rehearse a play in the morning and present it in the afternoon) reading Sir Thomas Moore, first performed in 1600, which depicts the plight of refugees, and Fragments, a piece performed by male refugees, created in collaboration with Single Homeless Project and Palestinian theatre maker Mo’min Swaitat.

June 17-24, Globe Theatre, SE1

London shows addressing social issues

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Victoria and Albert Museum

The Museum is running events throughout the week, from a Friday late featuring a Dance for Refuge DJ night and performance by Syrian singer Hamsa Mounif, to Perched, an installation of mould-blown glass swallows made as a response to Syrian refugees in Istanbul by artist Feleksan Onar. A pop-up performance has been created with families from the Somali Integration and Development Association and Iraqi-born artist Hayv Kahraman presents a transformative performance, Gendering memories of Iraq.

June 17-24, Victoria and Albert Museum, SW7

Screenings on the Southbank

A programme of films and discussions run at the British Film Institute. The Foreigner’s Home meditates on humanity’s oldest divisions and Through Our Eyes asks if we ever learn from past tragedies, followed by a Q&A with BAFTA-winning director Samir Mehanovic. Above the Drowning Sea tells the story of Chinese diplomat Ho Feng Shan, who saved thousands from Nazi occupied Vienna in 1939.

June 14-21, BFI Southbank, SE1

Moving Stories

The London Sea Shanty Collective and Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants’ choir come together in the Great Court, while the museum offer tours of 20 objects from the collection that tell refugee stories. Solange Leon Iriarte’s interactive art installations and a screening of Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow are also on the bill.

June 24, British Museum, WC1

Lowkey at KOKO

Hip hop artist and refugee rights activist Lowkey headlines this night a KOKO on Camden High Street, supported by Mozambique born rapper Mohammed Yahya. Native Sun and Palestinian rap duo EbsilJaz join up to present a brand new collaboration.

June 24, KOKO, NW1

The Displaced

Marina Lewycka, who was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for her book A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, and author of Refuge, Dina Nayeri, discuss their experiences growing up as refugees in Europe and America at Foyles. The writers are both contributing to a new anthology of essays curated by Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen called The Displaced.

June 19, Foyles, Charing Cross, WC2

These Walls Must Fall

An evening of spoken word, music and poetry at Friends House brings together performances from Poetic Pilgrimmage, JJ Bola, the Nawi Collective and Selina Nwulu.

June 23, Friends House, NW1

Pieces of Peace

In an installation at the Sarabande Foundation, artist Esna Su presents her hand-woven sculptures in When the Nest Falls. One of them, Pieces of Peace, is a carpet inlaid with 3,700 Swarovski crystals, representing the distance in kilometres between London and Aleppo and forming one of the Arabic letters of ‘al-salam’ (peace). Each crystal will be inserted manually by 65 people (the number of Syrian cities) during a workshop on June 16.

June 20-23, Sarabande Foundation, N1

Sounds for Syria

The London Syrian Ensemble are some of the Damascus Conservatoire’s most accomplished musicians and will perform 20th century Syrian classics in their signature style of powerful rhythms and melodic loops. They mix traditional Middle Eastern instruments (oud, ney and kanun) with strings, percussion and vocalists, premiering their new music. Proceeds will go to the Marhabtayn Trust who support those caught up in the Syrian conflict.

June 23, Conway Hall, WC1

You can find a full list of events at refugeeweek.org.uk

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