PHOSPHOROS THEATRE’S

ALL THE BEDS I HAVE SLEPT IN

COMES TO CURVE WEDNESDAY 5 – THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER

Play recalls the hundreds of beds the actors have slept in on their journeys from their homelands to seek asylum in the UK.

A bed that wasn’t a bed. A sheet in the Sahara.
A charpai on my roof in Afghanistan when it was too hot to sleep inside.
On our balcony back home, sharing with my brother.
A blanket in the rescue ship that pulled me from the sea’

After a successful tour last Autumn that saw nearly 500 refugee audience members and multiple sell-out performances, All the Beds I Have Slept In is returning with a new version and new refugee cast from Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Morocco. The drama will visit Leicester’s Curve theatre Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 October.

Using a simple set of just a bed on stage, the play recalls the hundreds of beds the actors have slept in on their journeys from their homelands to the UK. It explores the kindness of strangers who offered help, from a guard in a Greek detention centre to a passenger at a train station who shared a room in his house, these are the real people who kept the actors moving forward. It also tells the fictional story of Sameer (Syed Haleem Najibi) and Youssof (Mohamad Aljasem) created out of hundreds of refugee experiences heard by Phosphoros Theatre. First meeting in a foster home in London they stay best friends, only Sameer has Right to Remain and Youssof doesn’t, so their lives take very different paths. All The Beds I have Slept In uses Phosphoros’ trademark wit and energy to reveal the intimacy created between friends when family is absent, and how to stay hopeful in a world that isn’t fair.

Updated for 2022 – Afghanistan and Ukraine

Since the play was first created, global trends in forced migration have changed. The Nationality and Borders Bill became law authorising removals to Rwanda; while ‘Operation Warm welcome’ in response to the Afghanistan crisis was swiftly followed by ‘Homes for Ukraine’. The play reflects on these changes and what they mean for the company of refugee actors from who mostly came to the UK as unaccompanied children.

‘But the people keep coming from Kyiv and Kabul
And some of us realise that the queue isn’t equal…’

Written by Dawn Harrison; directed by Esther Dix; produced by Juliet Styles; movement direction by Sean Hollands; wellbeing leads Kate Duffy-Syedi and Juliet Styles.

Performed by Abel Atsede, Syed Haleem Najibi, Talal Hassan, Mohamad Aljasem, Nas Kamal, Ismael Mohammed.

Tickets for All The Beds I Have Slept In at Curve are on-sale now. To find out more and book, visit www.curveonline.co.uk, call 0116 242 3595 or visit Curve’s Box Office in-person.

Phosphoros Theatre Artistic Directors: Dawn Harrison, Kate Duffy-Syedi, Juliet Styles.

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