Stand & Be Counted Theatre in Residence
An outdoor venue like Baldersby Park provides an amazing space to showcase the very best in contemporary theatre!
This summer we bring you the festival's first theatre in residence. Stand & Be Counted are the UK’s first and leading Theatre Company of Sanctuary, committed to making work with and for people seeking sanctuary (refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants).
The Yorkshire-based company proudly sit at the intersection of arts, culture & social activism. Founded in 2010 with a passion for platforming the voices we need more of. Their work is adventurous and highly political, merging lived experience with new ideas. Art is activism and by changing hearts and minds, they intend to change policy too.
Secret Summer
SBC Theatre's headline show at Deer Shed is the interactive, multilingual story walk Secret Summer.
A co-created immersive theatre show made with members of the SBC Youth Theatre of Sanctuary (refugee & asylum seeker children aged 3-15) alongside acclaimed Syrian writer Anan Tello, Secret Summer was commissioned by The Space and Theatre in the Mill, with funding from Arts Council England and support from The Montgomery Theatre.
A brand new, digital-meets-live immersive adventure, Secret Summer is available in English and Arabic and can be enjoyed by the whole family. Using unique geolocative technology, the binaural chapters are triggered as the audience immerse themselves in the secret world of Squirrel, Unicorn and The Beetles.
Have Your Passport Ready
Have Your Passport Ready is a virtual experience that puts the audience directly in the world of the UK's hostile environment.
Led by brothers Khaled and Mohammad Aljawad from Syria, now based in Sheffield, Have Your Passport Ready explores an unknown city without an interpreter as audiences become players collecting evidence to prove their right to remain.
This short film-meets-video game challenges the viewer to put themselves in Khaled and Mohammed's shoes as a means of changing the narrative on how we view immigration in the UK. The experience was commissioned by Knaïve Theatre and supported by Arts Council England.
Sanctuary Broadcast Cinema
SBC will present an hour of shorts films including documentaries, animations, music videos and digital performances made by their successful Youth Theatre and Adult programmes for people seeking sanctuary across the country.
We've seen the collection and one of our faves is ‘Help Each Other!’ - a brand new, co-created short film created by SBC'S Youth Theatre. The group explore everything they have learned and lived through the Covid-19 pandemic.Children from across the globe, aged 3-15, who now call Sheffield home, share some big ideas and great advice to bring us all together, celebrate what we have and keep us safe today and in the future.
Soap Box Collection
AS if SBC weren't bringing enough content to showcase across the festival weekend, the team are bringing their Soap Box Collection too - a photography exhibition across their Soap Box Programmes of work from Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield and York captured by Digital Director, Smart Banda. A skilled creative with seven years of experience in the creative industry, Smart specialises in managing digital campaigns and platforms.
SBC's Soapbox Collection captures the responses from sanctuary seekers who SBC support. They say an image can speak a thousand words, well this incredibly curated gallery of visual content speaks volumes.
Sanctuary Zone
This year, in line with our festival theatre in residence, we have joined up with City of Sanctuary Leeds to provide a Sanctuary Zone onsite at the festival. It's a space for arts and craft as well as learning resources for young people on what it means to be a sanctuary seeker living in the UK.
This space will be run by those who have sought sanctuary in the UK, supported by numerous organisations from Leeds who are part of the City of Sanctuary network. For many on this project this will be the first time individuals have been to a music festival, so we are super excited to welcome the team to Deer Shed this year.