Kirjahaku

It is 1999. Hannah is sixteen. She loves karaoke and her bloke Bullfrog; she hates her home town of Margate and the Kosovan asylum-seekers who have come to live there. Hanna is also sixteen. She loves karaoke, loves Margate - and is one of the asylum-seekers. Slowly and unexpectedly, the two become friends, Hannah being forced to face up to her prejudices. This play for two young women addresses important issues through comedy, personal drama and the uniting power of music.

..A Story of Friendship, Migration and Karaoke…. Summer 1999. Margate’s beaches are packed with day-trippers…. and its hotels filled with Kosovan asylum seekers – including Hanna (Celia Meiras), a survivor of Europe’s most recent genocide. Hannah (Lisa Payne) is from Margate and bored with life in the rundown seaside town - hanging out with her boyfriend Bull and his prejudiced mates. The only things the two sixteen year olds have in common are their names and their love of singing along to their favourite pop songs…. Sixteen years later, Hanna returns to Margate - this time in search of a Syrian girl she befriended in Kosovo and who may have succeeded in getting across the Channel. The Calais `Jungle’ is close and attempts by its residents to reach England fill the local media. Hanna hopes her young friend will be welcome in Margate, but although the town has changed, alongside the coffee bars and vintage shops, there is still an undercurrent of hostility towards the migrants and refugees who are so desperate to enter the UK. Just as in 1999, when Hanna’s arrival turned Hannah’s life upside down, so her return takes the friends on a journey which Hannah from Margate would not have thought possible. Hannah and Hanna in Dreamland builds on John Retallack’s award winning earlier play, Hannah and Hanna, which has been performed extensively both nationally and internationally.

In "Hannah and Hanna" having escaped from Kosovo, Hanna, 16 meets Hannah, 16, from Margate. An unlikely friendship develops when they find that music is a common bond between them despite their different cultures and circumstances. "Virgins" explores issues of sexuality for young people: How do you explore your sexuality when you are still living at home with your parents? How do your parents sustain their love life with you in the house? And why do we find it so difficult to talk about? "Risk" asks how young people can discover their limits, how can they find out who they are? It asks why young people are drawn to danger; why they risk their freedom, their bodies, their minds and their futures, through dangerous activities and crime. "Club Asylum" is a devised dance theatre piece about teenage asylum seekers in Glasgow based on research with both young asylum seekers and residents. This is a thrilling fusion of dance, theatre and music.