Polyphony I – Cambridge University
Acting Now lead by Marina Pallarès-Elias and Polygon Arts, in association with the MEITS Research project, present an original devised theatre performance about language and identity. This is a story of fitting in and falling out, speaking up and not being heard, finding one voice and losing another. If who we are is connected to the language we speak, who are we when we speak more than one?
The Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals Transforming Societies (MEITS) research project is a major interdisciplinary research project funded under the AHRC Open World Research Initiative. Through six interlocking research strands we investigate how the insights gained from stepping outside a single language, culture and mode of thought are vital to individuals and societies.
Alongside the various research programmes, MEITS has commissioned a community theatre production to bring stories of everyday multilingual lives to a wider audience. Acting Now and Polygon Arts have been working with community groups and individuals drawn from a dozen linguistic backgrounds to explore how speaking more than one language affects their lives. Through workshop and rehearsal, we have devised an intimate and interactive portrayal of the many identities the participants perform at home, at work, with friends and with family.
Antigone Now / Theatre of Yes Workshop Barcelona / BBC Gender Equality Training / Beyond Borders and Boundaries / Bradford University workshop / Cambridge University Diversity Day Workshop / Complicté / Deaf Community Oaxaca México / Ecatepec – women / I deserve a better chance / Just a little longer – LGBTQ+ youth group / Keep holding my hand / Love is underground – refugees young people / Monstruosidades – ZINEGOAK festival Vasc Country / The sacrifices of millions of women before us / No more drama II – young women / Polyphony I / Polyphony II / Presas Mutantes Germany / Refugees action / Theatre of the Oppressed Madrid / Tejidos – Women México / The rise and fall of Mario Sanchez the homeless / Theatre of the Oppressed UK 2014 / Theatre of the Oppressed Mexico / Theatre of The Oppressed UK 2019 / Theatre of the Oppressed UK 2018 / Theatre of Yes Madrid / This is Me – LGBTQ+ Youth Group / Through the cloud I can see you / Tómame de la mano – the elderly / Theatre of Yes México / Up to the sky is where we can dream / We still standing / What you don’t see – LGBTQ+ youth group / You, me and the Spanish Civil War