INVITATION to rehearsed reading of theatrical adaptation of ‘Hidden’ 15 June 2017

HIDDEN by Vickie Donoghue. A stage adaptation of Miriam Halahmy’s novel.

When & Where? 2.30pm, Thursday 15 June 2017, The Harlequin, Portsmouth Guildhall, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 2AB

You are invited to attend a reading of playwright Vicki Donoghue’s adaptation of Miriam Halahmy’s book, Hidden (2010), nominated for a Carnegie Medal and a Sunday Times book of the week. Hidden tells the story of two fourteen year olds Alix and Samir, who both live on Hayling Island near Portsmouth, she native to the island, he a refugee from the 2007 Iraq war, having lived in Baghdad until the age of 9. Vickie Donoghue, recently included in the BBC’s talents of 2017, is under commission with Nabakov and is an Associate Artist at the Mercury Theatre. The High Tide Festival at The Bush produced her first play, Mudlarks, to critical acclaim.

Funded by the House Theatre initiative and Arts Council England, director Stuart Mullins and producer Rebecca Laughton, working with Iraqi Young Producer Temor Alkaisi, aim to reach a young audience and offer a space to discuss the refugee crisis and immigration in general, by creating a viscerally challenging 60 minute play, that excites, engages and inspires.

By adapting the book we invite young people to explore the issues arising from the refugee crisis, looking at arguments for and against the current asylum process. We want to tackle the current fracture in communities that occurs in areas where there is fear and ignorance surrounding the whole issue of immigration. To do this we need strong partners and are very lucky to have the involvement of Journeys Festival International, Counterpoints Arts, the Quarterhouse in Folkestone, Kent Refugee Action Network, The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre in Havant, the Guildhall in Portsmouth and the Thameside Theatre in Thurrock.

RSVP rebecca@hiddenproject.co.uk

www.hiddenproject.co.uk

 

“Narrating Migrations” workshop: Miriam Halahmy, author of Hidden (2011)

In the first podcast from the workshop ‘Narrating Migrations’ held at the University of Portsmouth on 15 March 2017, Emmanuel Godin introduces the event. Writer Miriam Halahmy then discusses her novel Hidden (2011), aimed at a teenage audience, and how she was drawn to address questions of migration and asylum through her work. She also describes her experiences speaking to children in UK schools. Listen to the podcast here:

Miriam Halahmy is an author and a poet. She has published five novels and three collections of poetry, as well as articles and countless blogposts. Miriam was a teacher for 25 years in London and has always worked with asylum seekers. She has run workshops for asylum seekers at The Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture and for English PEN, helping this client group write down their stories as part of their journey to a new life. Miriam has also run workshops on peace and tolerance in a Paris lycée. Her song, Seven Billion Candles (for peace) emerged from this work and was performed by 95 school choirs recently across Lancashire.

Miriam’s novel HIDDEN (2011) was longlisted for the Carnegie medal and was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week: “A book to counter bigotry”. HIDDEN is about two teens who pull an asylum seeker out of the sea and hide him to save him from being deported. In the past two years there has been a huge surge of interest in the book as a result of the worldwide refugee crisis. HIDDEN has been published in America (Holiday House, 2016, Scholastic Bookclub, 2017) as well as other territories. This year HIDDEN has been adapted for the stage and will tour schools, small theatres and community centres from spring 2018 in order to challenge perceived views of asylum seekers and refugees in our society today.

Find out about  Miriam’s latest book, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, published by Holiday House (March 2017) on www.miriamhalahmy.com.