Open Clasp Theatre Company presents Songlines in Byker and Middlesbrough

Check out this new installation showing in Byker and Middlesbrough developed by Open Clasp Theatre Company with women from minority communities who now live in the North East. The piece is aimed at providing a space for the unheard voices of these women through a multi-media installation

Newcastle: Byker Lives, 15 – 17 Raby Cross, Byker, Newcastle, NE6 2FF

Open: Tuesday 3rd – Saturday 7th December, 11am – 4pm, free refreshments available (late opening on Thursday until 7pm, with food, refreshments and special guests)

 Middlesbrough: Crossroads Community Café, 54 Borough Rd, Middlesbrough, TS1 2JH

Open: Tuesday 10th – Saturday 14th December, 11am – 3pm, free refreshments available (late opening on Thursday until 7pm with food, refreshments and special guests)

Open Clasp Theatre Company presents Songlines

I’ve been to the sea here, in the summer time, to Tynemouth. When I look at the sea here it reminds me of the sea back home. I can’t say it’s the same and I can’t say it’s different. It’s the sea. The sea is always the same, It’s the surroundings that are different.

Songlines is a beautiful multi-media installation created from interviews and conversations with women from minority communities living in the North East. Through discussions on the sea and other places, they shared stories of their childhood and home, leaving people and places behind and of their new lives in the North East of England.

The piece was developed in collaboration with 26 women from minority communities from Byker Sands Centre – Sure Start East, Open Door North East and West End Women & Girls Centre, working alongside photographer Phyllis Christopher, visual artist Taryn Edmonds and filmmaker Kate Sweeney. It will be shown in:

This installation is the final phase of the A Song To Sing project which informed the play The Space Between Us bringing the truth of experiences of women who are Czech/Roma, Slovak/Roma, Travellers, women seeking asylum, those who are refused and experiencing destitution and Arabic women, from Libya, Syria and Kuwait to a wide audience.