Refugee Week
Full marks to Belinda McElhinney who worked tirelessly to co-ordinate the week, and showed up at the Launch event still full of passion for an event which increases in scope and scale year by year
More than a hundred events across many disciplines showcased Scottish refugees and asylum seekers, sharing their stories, showing off their skills and primarily spreading some fun around. Highlights included Back and Forth (Tron, 19 Jun) a night which integrated not only poetry, live music and dance to tell inspiring stories from both insider and outsiders' point of view, but also showed how well local community groups can work with those seeking refuge.
The thought-provoking Journeys Home (Tron, 18 Jun) approached the situation from the very personal point of view of spoken word and music, all composed by the performers. Under the Same Sky (Tron, 16 Jun) was pure fun, with young dancers from around the world body-popping, breaking and showing mad skills on the dancefloor; no rhetoric needed.
My Bit (Tron, 17 Jun) which was a joint project of Ankur productions and the IGNITE theatre company, integrated what was best about all the above. Set in a Glasgow high school and largely written by the 14-18 year old cast, it was based around the somewhat heavy theme of territory and belonging, yet fizzled with energy, wit and dazzling choreography.
There were some future stars on show we'll no doubt be seeing more of, and the crowd enjoyed it enough to drag the cast and director out onstage for an after-show grilling.
Finally the Red Cross Comedy night (Tron, 18 Jun) was a chance to just laugh, with Kevin Bridges, fresh from playing to a crowd of ten thousand at Rock Ness, proving he's no Boyle-in-the-bag wannabe. At one point he asked the crowd how they travelled there and on hearing of a particular bus route, said, "Ah, the 62: the only bus where you can see 3 genearations of the same family get on for a half." Class in a very worthy glass.