On Friday, 8th November, the Year 10 GCSE Drama
group were visited by the TIE (Theatre in Education) company ‘Ice and Fire’ who
work on behalf of the charity Amnesty International. It was perhaps the most emotional and
uplifting two and a half hours we’ve spent in school, challenging our
assumptions on asylum seeking not only in Britain
but also France
Sue ran the powerful and thought provoking first session,
ending in her taking on the role of ‘Marjorie’, a Ugandan woman who was
arrested and tortured for daring to stand up to her country’s political
regime. The performance she gave brought
to life the emotional journey Marjorie took from capture, to escape, to the
emotional pain of the British asylum system and finally the joy of being
granted permanent refuge in the UK
We were then introduced to another lady, who had arrived a
little later in the session. Her name
was Marjorie.
After hearing her story brought to such vivid life by Sue,
it was with great emotion that we welcomed the real life Marjorie. As you can see from the picture that the
class, in a spontaneous act of welcome and admiration, embraced her!
We would like to thank Mr Dale for taking the first steps in
creating this link with Amnesty International and Ice and Fire. We look forward to working together as a
class and later as a school to forge closer links with the two organisations,
along with Priory
School
Workshop leader, Sue explains the work 'Ice and Fire' do in partnership with
Amnesty. Her passion and drive when talking and performing made the theme of
asylum seeking immediate and compelling.
After seeing Sue perform a harrowing account of human rights violations in
Uganda and asylum seeking in the UK, made by a Ugandan woman named Marjorie, we
were overwhelmed with delight to met Marjorie herself!
The Year 10 GCSE Drama class with the 'Ice and Fire' team. A morning we're sure
we won't forget.
|
