Good Chance and Gecko Present
FROM HERE ON
FROM HERE ON
Good Chance and Gecko Present
A new, international piece of world-class physical theatre about displacement, movement and being forced to find a new home.
A new, international piece of world-class physical theatre about displacement, movement and being forced to find a new home.
“A pulsing, heart-wrenching, ultimately hopeful piece of physical theatre.” – ★★★★ The Stage
Multi-award winning theatre companies Good Chance and Gecko’s groundbreaking performance with over 200 young people in public spaces in the UK and Europe, all about children’s right to safety, whoever they are, wherever they are from.
From Here On marks the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport, when nearly 10,000 Jewish children were given safe passage to the UK from Nazi-occupied Europe. It is an artistic remembrance of that history, as well as an urgent call for empathy and action for displaced young people in the present.
At train stations, harbours and beaches in London, Harwich, Dover, The Hague and Berlin, our international companies of young people and members of the Gecko ensemble presented the world premieres of new pieces of breathtaking physical theatre telling the story of 85 years of displacement and welcome.
Stand in Solidarity
We are proud to be partnering with Safe Passage International, standing in solidarity with their vital and urgent work to ensure routes to safety for refugees and family reunification for all unaccompanied children around the world, and their three current projects to enable safe passage for young people from Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine.
Marking the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport, we learn from the PAST
to empower new acts of solidarity and call for safety for all in the PRESENT
and to imagine and create a safer FUTURE with the next generation.
Find out more about From Here On and what safe routes look like today HERE.
From Here On Events
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Harwich, UK
30th August 2024 & 1st September 2024
After working together for three months, young people from across Essex, including many with lived experience of displacement, performed together with Gecko’s professional ensemble on Harwich’s Beach to over 2000 people.
Location - Harwich Yachting Beach / Grass Beach
Presented in partnership with The Mercury Theatre
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London, UK
6th & 8th September 2024
After working together for three months, young people from across London, including many with lived experience of displacement and from the Jewish community, performed together with Gecko’s professional ensemble near Liverpool Street Station to over 2600 people.
Location - Exchange Square, Sun St
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Dover, UK
August 2024, Devising and Filming
7 October 2024, Film Screening
Following a 2-week residency, a collective of young people, all newly arrived to the UK to seek sanctuary and currently supported by KRAN, worked with the Gecko performers to create a site-specific short film about contemporary experiences of seeking safety.
Presented in partnership with Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN)
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The Hague, Holland
21st September 2024
Presened in collaboration with Amare Arts Centre
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Berlin, Germany
2nd October 2024
Following a 2-week residency, local school children alongside two Gecko performers presented a performance inspired by stories of the Kindertransport and contemporary experiences of seeking sanctuary.
Location - Albrecht Dürer Gymnasium
Presented in partnership with with Dr Natasha Davis and Mensch Raum Land
Call for Safety
The Kindertransport was a historical act of welcome led not by governments but by ordinary people from charities and voluntary organisations working together to bring Jewish children to the UK from Nazi-occupied Europe. It shows us how powerful individuals and communities can be in making real change: to call out the impact of anti-refugee policies around the world and make asylum systems more humane. We’re calling on people from all walks of life to act again.
We are proud to be partnering with Safe Passage International and supporting their urgent call for a compassionate refugee system: to open safe routes and to ensure family reunification for unaccompanied children from across the world, including through their three current region-specific projects for children in Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine.
While the majority of unaccompanied children claiming asylum in the UK supported by Safe Passage International are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria, children from many other countries and regions around the world are being displaced from their homes every day and in many cases this rarely reaches the mainstream news.
Through From Here On, we draw attention to the current lack of safe routes for children, which force people to risk their lives on dangerous journeys. And we’ll highlight the urgent need for this to change, for people to safely find new homes and be welcomed into new communities.
Will you add your voice to the calls for safety and welcome, to change the UK Government’s current anti-refugee policies and make the asylum system more humane? The smallest acts can make the biggest difference.
“From Here On profoundly touches me because it explores the powerful theme of our origins migration and its historical impact in our society by raising awareness by sharing our special stories, our homes. By engaging with our young people from various communities, it sheds light on the Kindertransport's importance and the invaluable contributions to us refugees have made to our British society. This project not only offers crucial historical insights but also encourages us to think deeply about our current refugee issues, making it incredibly timely and meaningful. If we did help in the past, we can now.” - Nouralhuda Idriss, member of From Here On Advisory Group and Safe Passage Young Leader
“From Here On tackles the issue of child refugees with blazing honesty, deeply-held concern and sun-ripened humanity.”
- The Cambridge Critique
“A beautiful meaningful show. My five year old turned me into tears after the show and said sometimes there are sad things that are scary but there is always hope. Thank you!” - Audience Member, Harwich
“Very moving, emotional, scary and hopeful. Connected me with what’s happening in the wider world. It was beautiful.” - Audience Member, London
“Watching with my new 2 year old I feel more inspired more than ever for her to know her local history and of the world so the memory of this evidence and people never dies. To have the opportunity to do so with help from moving productions such as this is a great gift to the next generation.” - Audience Member, Harwich
Good Chance
In a world of entrenching polarisation, Good Chance creates ground-breaking, heart-thumping “theatre that shakes hands with the world” (Sunday Times). Good Chance established its first temporary Theatre of Hope, an 11m geodesic dome, in the heart of the ‘Jungle’ refugee and migrant camp in Calais in 2015, promoting freedom of expression, creativity and dignity for everyone.
Good Chance now creates powerful and provoking work including The Jungle and The Walk with Little Amal, and radical acts of solidarity like Fly With Me. Their work sparks new conversations across divides, connecting communities through art and exploring the big issues of our time, including migration, to make real change possible. Central to all of this is the development of artists who have been displaced to be an integral part of the UK’s creative ecosystem.
Find out more about Good Chance and support their work.
Gecko
Gecko is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed physical theatre company, led by Artistic Director Amit Lahav. Founded in 2001, the company has created 8 critically acclaimed shows, 2 Associate Shows and 2 films. Gecko is currently touring their 8th stage production Kin (2022 onwards), commissioned by the National Theatre, exploring themes of family, migration and home.
Gecko’s Creative Engagement programme supports the company’s artistic output, inviting performers, teachers, professional artists, students of theatre or dance and the public to bravely and open heartedly delve into new worlds of connection, imagination and discovery through creativity and play. Gecko have strong relationships with schools, universities and colleges across the UK & internationally and their work is studied on the curriculum at GCSE, A Level & IB.
Find out more about Gecko and support their work.
For Schools
Host a free workshop at your school!
We’re hosting a limited number of FREE physical theatre workshops for local schools and youth groups, delivered by professional Gecko performers.
These workshops are available to groups who attend a performance of From Here On or via a film of the show (available later in autumn term). In these workshops, you will explore the themes of From Here On through physical storytelling, creative drama tasks and games. Gecko’s work is studied on the curriculum at GCSE, A Level and IB, so it’s an incredible chance to bring their practitioners into your education or youth setting.
Please write to workshops@geckotheatre.com if your school is interested in finding out more about booking.
Please note, the workshops are 3 hours long, available December 2024-March 2025 and will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis. Suitable for participants 14+.
A Day of Welcome
Through From Here On, Good Chance and Gecko are also working with The Day of Welcome, a UK Schools of Sanctuary and Anglia Ruskin University initiative. This is an annual day of solidarity and learning in schools that aims to build a culture of welcome and understanding for people seeking sanctuary, celebrated by over 500 schools and up to 200,000 young people across the UK each year.
In 2024, we are collaborating to create a Q&A resource centred on the Kindertransport and contemporary safe routes for children with Nour Adam, From Here On advisory board member and Safe Passage Young Leader, for young people to share questions with Nour on the Day of Welcome and hear them answered in a resource for teachers and families to use throughout the year.
We will also create a full schools resource in 2025 centred around a film of the From Here On performances, and provide teachers with a workshop plan to teach children about the history of the Kindertransport and contemporary experiences of seeking sanctuary.
“As former child refugees ourselves, we are speaking out together, knowing how the welcome you receive in a new country can chart out the very future you will go on to enjoy. We would never accept this for our own children, and we should never accept it for children who find themselves alone and isolated in our asylum system.”
Lord Alf Dubs, Kindertransport refugee, Labour peer and From Here On project Patron, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford in a shared statement via inews about the consequences of the Rwanda Bill
MEET THE TEAM
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For Gecko
Eera Gupta, Ishita Raina, Jack Norris, Katie Lusby, Lucia Chocarro, Mario García-Patrón Álvarez, Nathan Bartman, Saju Hari, Vanessa Guevara Flores, Vivian Luk
Young People
Alongside the professional Gecko ensemble, we worked with 40 young people in each of London and Essex, and 10 young people in Dover, plus many more in The Hague and Berlin to form our local casts.
Our young performers were representative of over 20 different countries, whether through lived experience of seeking sanctuary in the UK or through a family history of migration: from Afghanistan to Somalia, from Burundi to Iran, from Germany to Hong Kong.
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Creative & Production Team
Amit Lahav, Director
Andres Velasquez, Associate Director
Sophia Clist, Set, Costume & Props Designer
Michael Crean, Sound Designer
Zac Gvirtzman, Composer
Mat Ort, Production Manager
Alexandra Kharibian, Costume Supervisor
Leah Butterworth, Stage Manager
Joni-Ann Falconer, Deputy Stage Manager
Amir Hussain Ibrahimi, Production AssistantYvonne Gilbert, Development Sound Designer
TEA films, Film Production Company
Local Teams
London
Emma Hayes, London Local Producer
Jasmine Ricketts, London Facilitator
Michelle Ezeuko, London Workshop Assistant
Nathan Bartman and Vanessa Guevara Flores, Young People’s DirectorsEssex
Cassie Catchpole, Essex Local Producer
Maryam Noorhimli, Essex Facilitator
Zehra Bilgin, Essex Workshop Assistant
Katie Lusby and Mario García-Patrón Álvarez, Young People’s DirectorsGecko team
including Malachy Luckie, Photography
and Mark Sepple, Hero Image Photographer -
Dr Amy Williams, Kindertransport Historical Adviser
Safe Passage International
Karen Bastick-Styles, Safeguarding Consultant
Justin McLaren, Communications Consultant (8HWE)
Elahe Ziai, Communications Consultant (IMIX)
Alice Sewell, Communications ConsultantAdvisory Group
From Here On is supported and has been informed by a wide range of partners and individuals, including an Advisory Group of people with lived experience including young people who have been through the UK asylum system, a Kindertransport refugee, an education specialist, a communications expert with lived experience of displacement and specialist in this communications area, leaders of Jewish community and arts organisations, theatre directors and practitioners from a range of heritages and backgrounds, and local community specialists.
Patrons
Lord Alf Dubs and Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley, who both came to the UK as refugees on the Kindertransport.
Further Acknowledgments
The stories of young people seeking sanctuary depicted in the performance are inspired by testimonies of individuals who have recently sought sanctuary in the UK, including inspiration from testimonies in the book 'Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain' by Eithne Nightingale.
Thank you to Tendring District Council and British Land for hosting the Harwich & London performances respectively.
