Creative storytelling in this immersive show about the challenges of seeking refuge in the UK

Journey of a Refugee is an immersive theatre experience directed by Sue Buckmaster, starring Adi Detemo, Mohamed Sarrar, Vivian Triantafyllopoulou, and Kassichana Okene-Jameson, showing at the Stanley Arts Centre in Croydon, as well as some local in-school performances. 

The cast occupy the space in a range of ways in order to facilitate the story of Zain (Sarrar) , a refugee in the UK from Sudan. In order to make this work, the audience are never fixed in one place for very long. We’re herded into a certain part of the room, invited to sit on the floor or stand further back to watch the next scene, before then being moved into a new position, perhaps at a 90 degree rotation, or maybe split up so that the cast are now performing in the middle of the room. This constant movement allows for an inherent variety in the storytelling without needing a larger cast or crew to support with prop or set changes. It also keeps the audience from getting too comfortable, which provides crucial for later on when they kick the immersion up a gear. 

Across each scene, a range of devices are used in order to tell the story, with dialogue often not being relied upon. Instead, Journey of a Refugee prefers to show you the plot using puppetry, dance, and make-shift props, all of which work reasonably well and keep the audience captivated through the continual change. Most impressively was a scene that involved Zain riding in a raft, represented by a line of empty life jackets in a crate, across the Mediterranean, represented by a thin plastic sheet that spanned the stage, being wafted by the other members of the cast. It was a technique that while reminiscent of a child’s birthday party, conveyed the danger in the waves of water surprisingly well. 

Towards the end of the show is when things start to really get immersive. As Ali is attempting to engage with the bureaucracy of the UK’s Asylum Seeking system, the cast seeks to highlight how difficult it is by bringing the whole audience on stage, breaking us into groups, and guiding us through a series of challenges whereby we need to fill in sequential elements of our own asylum seeking paperwork, with enough caveats and hidden pitfalls that suddenly make you feel like you’re participating in an episode of Taskmaster. This was an inventive way to highlight how twisted the Asylum Seeking process can be, whilst also letting the audience have fun. For anyone who cringes at the thought of audience participation, I am normally that person, and I’ll concede that I really enjoyed this. 

It’s easy to come away from Journey of a Refugee with conflicted emotions. The performance ends on such an emotive high note, that one could be forgiven for forgetting that this is satirical of real strife that people experience every day whilst trying to make a better life for themselves in the UK. But that’s not the intention of the show. Journey of a Refugee doesn’t want you to come away feeling sad. It wants you to come away feeling full of warmth and positivity about what providing asylum can mean for people like Ali, and I’m confident it delivers that.