LONDON – The refugee crisis continues to be a hot topic and night impossible to solve issue in today's world, and with NOVAE Theatre's latest play, they're set to shine a new light upon the problem, putting a human face on it and portraying a moral quandary a cleaner face.
Written by Grace Chapman and directed by Nicholas Pitt, Don't Look Away is set in 2015 Bradford, where Adnan (Robert Hannouch), a young asylum seeker, enters a community centre covered in flour & asking for help. There he meets Cath (Julia Barrie), a middle-aged cleaner, who reluctantly lets him stay in her son's empty bedroom. But this decision has consequences, and Cath soon becomes increasingly entangled in Adnan's asylum claim. As her frustrations rise, so does her desire to take action, until her estranged son Jamie (Brian Fletcher) returns home and wants his room back. With two boys under her care fighting for space, Cath's house becomes a microcosm of British society, where there isn't enough to go around, and blame is quickly passed.
Shifting our focus away from the government's response to the international refugee crisis instead to how we as individuals have power to make a difference, Don't Look Away is set to be a powerful, timely production exploring the impact of the UK's 'hostile environment' on those who witness it.