Coventry Embraces - The Walk With Amal
Emergency Exit Arts were proud to produce the welcoming event in Coventry for The Walk With Amal. Creating an event for Coventry City of Culture 2021 was incredibly important for EEA and a prime example of our ability to produce high-quality, large-scale, muitartform outdoor shows. This major show involved working with a wide range of partners, including director Sita Thomas and composer Niraj Chag
The Walk With Amal
At this time of unprecedented global change, The Walk is an artistic response: a cultural odyssey transcending borders, politics, and language to tell a new story of shared humanity – and to ensure the world doesn’t forget the millions of displaced children, each with their own story.
The 3.5 metre-tall puppet was created by the acclaimed Handspring Puppet Company. Representing all displaced children, many separated from their families, Little Amal has walked across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the UK, and was welcomed in Manchester in November 2021 for the finale event. She has travelled a remarkable 8,000km in total, celebrating the power of art and shared humanity wherever she goes.
Coventry Embraces
Sita Thomas was invited by Coventry City Culture of Trust and Emergency Exit Arts to direct Amal's welcome to Coventry. She created 'Coventry Embraces', a spectacular light, sound, and dance show in front of Coventry Cathedral. Incorporating video projection by Yeast Culture, the production told a story of Coventry's past with bombing in the blitz, and Amal reflected on the memory of places she'd fled from in Aleppo. With spoken word poetry by Coventry's Young Poet Laureate and verbatim interview material from refugees and NHS migrant workers, the show celebrated Coventry's City of Sanctuary status, and offered visions of welcome, hope, and shared humanity.
The evening was a theatre performance, featuring sound, light, and choreography, with music composed by Niraj Chag, lighting designed by Craig West, and the pyro designed by Lightfires. Event Production Management by Pablo Cattermole, Event Management by Tracey Sage.
The event featured our touring Peace Poem, created by Robert Montgomery, as a backdrop for the show. Amal was reminded that she will always have a place in Coventry.
Credits
Good Chance, Stephen Daldry, David Lan and Tracey Seaward and Naomi Webb present a Good Chance Theatre Production, in association with Handspring Puppet Company produced and presented in Coventry by Coventry City of Culture Trust and Emergency Exit Arts. Directed by Sita Thomas.
