GOOD CHANCE AND GECKO PRESENT

FROM HERE ON

A new, international piece of world-class physical theatre about displacement, movement and being forced to find a new home.

Multi-award winning theatre companies Good Chance and Gecko are creating a groundbreaking performance with over 200 young people in public spaces in the UK and Europe, all about children’s right to safety, whoever they are, wherever they are from.

From Here On marks the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport, when nearly 10,000 Jewish children were given safe passage to the UK from Nazi-occupied Europe. It is an artistic remembrance of that history, as well as an urgent call for empathy and action for displaced young people in the present.

At train stations, harbours and beaches in London, Harwich, Dover, The Hague and Berlin, our international companies of young people and members of the Gecko ensemble invite you to join them for the world premieres of new pieces of breathtaking physical theatre telling the story of 85 years of displacement and welcome.

From Here On Events

  • DOVER, UK

    August 2024

    Presented in partnership with Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN)

  • HARWICH, UK

    30th August 2024
    1st September 2024
    There will be 4 performances each day (11am, 1.15pm, 3.30pm & 5.40pm), 35 minutes running time

    Location - Harwich Yachting Beach / Grass Beach
    What Three Words - w3w.co/swarm.eyeful.mystery

    Presented in partnership with The Mercury Theatre. Public event, FREE to attend.

  • LONDON, UK

    6th September 2024
    8th September 2024
    There will be 4 performances each day (11am, 1.15pm, 3.30pm & 5.40pm), 35 minutes running time

    Location - Exchange Square, Sun St Passage, Liverpool Street, EC2A 2EH
    What Three Words - what3words.com/bugs.transit.vast

    Presented in partnership with Greenwich & Docklands International Festival (GDIF). Public event, FREE to attend.

  • THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

    21st September 2024, International Day of Peace
    There will be 2 performances (1pm & 4pm) as part of a wider programme, including exhibitions, music and workshops

    Location - Amare Studio
    Reserve your FREE ticket here.

    Presented in partnership with Amare Arts Centre. Public event, FREE to attend.

  • BERLIN, GERMANY

    October 2024

    Presented in partnership with Dr Natasha Davis and Mensch Raum Land

  • Each performance of From Here On will be a powerful 35 minute piece of physical theatre - focusing on movement to tell stories, rather than speech - with 40 young people performing alongside 10 professional Gecko performers.

    The piece will move between the past through to the present. This includes telling the story of children leaving Germany on the Kindertransport trains and boats, alongside similar journeys that have taken place during the past 85 years, including the stories of young people seeking sanctuary today.

    Content Information: From Here On contains themes of migration, displacement and the challenges faced by people seeking sanctuary, some of which are of a distressing nature. Please consider suitability for anyone under age 11. For specific content information please email hello@goodchance.org.uk

  • Site Access
    Free. Just Show Up.
    Assistance Dogs Welcome.

    Level Access
    Level access on hard standing.

    Access Viewing Areas
    An access viewing area for disabled audience members will be marked with a sign or flag at each event. Space for wheelchair users, companions and seating with and without arms will be available.

    Accessible Toilets
    Liverpool Street Station accessible toilets are adjacent to platform 10.

    Changing Places facility at Lloyds Bank, 33 Old Broad Street, EC2N 1HZ is 650m from Liverpool Street. Open on Friday 6th Sep and not Sunday 8th Sep.

    Blue badge parking 
    Blue Badge spaces are on Finsbury Circus and Liverpool St

    Drop-off point
    Primrose Street

    Contact 
    For Access questions, contact access@festival.org / 07899 893935    

  • Site Access
    Free. Just Show Up.
    Assistance Dogs Welcome.

    Level Access
    Partial level access on hard standing (beach promenade)
    Majority access on sand (beach)

    Access Viewing Areas
    An access viewing area on the level access for disabled audience members will be marked with a sign or flag at each event. Space for wheelchair users, companions will be available.

    Accessible Toilets 
    There is an accessible toilet at Historic Harwich, 8 St Helen's Green (320m from the Yachting / Grass Beach).

    Local Car Parking
    Wellington Road Car Park (1 minute walk, step free access to the beach)
    The Quay (6 minutes walk)
    Redoubt Fort (9 minutes walk)
    Orwell Place (15 minutes walk)
    Milton Road (15 minutes walk)

    Drop-off point
    Wellington Road Car Park

    Contact 
    For Access questions, contact Sophie on sophie@goodchance.org.uk

  • Digital Audio Description Introduction (below).

    Highly visual with multi-lingual improvised speech which is not essential to understanding. 

We are proud to be partnering with Safe Passage International, standing in solidarity with their vital and urgent work to ensure routes to safety for refugees and family reunification for all unaccompanied children around the world, and their three current projects to enable safe passage for young people from Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine.

Marking the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport, we learn from the PAST

to empower new acts of solidarity and call for safety for all in the PRESENT

and to imagine and create a safer FUTURE with the next generation.

Find out more about From Here On and what safe routes look like today HERE.

Stand in Solidarity

The Kindertransport was a historic act of welcome led not by governments but by ordinary people from charities and voluntary organisations working together to bring Jewish children to the UK from Nazi-occupied Europe. It shows us how powerful individuals and communities can be in making real change: to call out the impact of anti-refugee policies around the world and make asylum systems more humane. We’re calling on people from all walks of life to act again.

We are proud to be partnering with Safe Passage International and supporting their urgent call for a compassionate refugee system: to open safe routes and to ensure family reunification for unaccompanied children from across the world, including through their three current region-specific projects for children in Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine.

While the majority of unaccompanied children claiming asylum in the UK supported by Safe Passage International are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria, children from many other countries and regions around the world are being displaced from their homes every day and in many cases this rarely reaches the mainstream news.

Through From Here On, we draw attention to the current lack of safe routes for children, which force people to risk their lives on dangerous journeys. And we’ll highlight the urgent need for this to change, for people to safely find new homes and be welcomed into new communities.

Will you add your voice to the call for safety and welcome, to push the new Government to stand on the right side of history and make the asylum system more humane? The smallest acts can make the biggest difference.

“From Here On profoundly touches me because it explores the powerful theme of our origins migration and its historical impact in our society by raising awareness by sharing our special stories, our homes. By engaging with our young people from various communities, it sheds light on the Kindertransport's importance and the invaluable contributions to us refugees have made to our British society. This project not only offers crucial historical insights but also encourages us to think deeply about our current refugee issues, making it incredibly timely and meaningful. If we did help in the past, we can now.”

Nouralhuda Idriss, member of From Here On Advisory Group and Safe Passage Young Leader

Good Chance

In a world of entrenching polarisation, Good Chance creates ground-breaking, heart-thumping “theatre that shakes hands with the world” (Sunday Times). Good Chance established its first temporary Theatre of Hope, an 11m geodesic dome, in the heart of the ‘Jungle’ refugee and migrant camp in Calais in 2015, promoting freedom of expression, creativity and dignity for everyone.

Good Chance now creates powerful and provoking work including The Jungle and The Walk with Little Amal, and radical acts of solidarity like Fly With Me. Their work sparks new conversations across divides, connecting communities through art and exploring the big issues of our time, including migration, to make real change possible. Central to all of this is the development of artists who have been displaced to be an integral part of the UK’s creative ecosystem.

Find out more about Good Chance and support their work.

Gecko

Gecko is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed physical theatre company, led by Artistic Director Amit Lahav. Founded in 2001, the company has created 8 critically acclaimed shows, 2 Associate Shows and 2 films. Gecko is currently touring their 8th stage production Kin (2022 onwards), commissioned by the National Theatre, exploring themes of family, migration and home.

Gecko’s Creative Engagement programme supports the company’s artistic output, inviting performers, teachers, professional artists, students of theatre or dance and the public to bravely and open heartedly delve into new worlds of connection, imagination and discovery through creativity and play. Gecko have strong relationships with schools, universities and colleges across the UK & internationally and their work is studied on the curriculum at GCSE, A Level & IB.

Find out more about Gecko and support their work.

For Schools

Host a free workshop at your school!

We’re hosting a limited number of FREE physical theatre workshops for local schools and youth groups, delivered by professional Gecko performers.

These workshops are available to groups who attend a performance of From Here On or via a film of the show (available later in autumn term). In these workshops, you will explore the themes of From Here On through physical storytelling, creative drama tasks and games. Gecko’s work is studied on the curriculum at GCSE, A Level and IB, so it’s an incredible chance to bring their practitioners into your education or youth setting.

Please write to workshops@geckotheatre.com if your school is interested in finding out more about booking.

Please note, the workshops are 3 hours long, available September-December 2024 and will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis. Suitable for participants 14+.

A Day of Welcome

Through From Here On, Good Chance and Gecko are also working with The Day of Welcome, a UK Schools of Sanctuary and Anglia Ruskin University initiative. This is an annual day of solidarity and learning in schools that aims to build a culture of welcome and understanding for people seeking sanctuary, celebrated by over 500 schools and up to 200,000 young people across the UK each year. 

In 2024, we are collaborating to create a Q&A resource centred on the Kindertransport and contemporary safe routes for children with Nour Adam, From Here On advisory board member and Safe Passage Young Leader, for young people to share questions with Nour on the Day of Welcome and hear them answered in a resource for teachers and families to use throughout the year. 

We will also create a full schools resource in 2025 centred around a film of the From Here On performances, and provide teachers with a workshop plan to teach children about the history of the Kindertransport and contemporary experiences of seeking sanctuary.

“As former child refugees ourselves, we are speaking out together, knowing how the welcome you receive in a new country can chart out the very future you will go on to enjoy. We would never accept this for our own children, and we should never accept it for children who find themselves alone and isolated in our asylum system.”

Lord Alf Dubs, Kindertransport refugee, Labour peer and From Here On project Patron, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford in a shared statement via inews

Meet the Team

  • For Gecko

    Eera Gupta, Ishita Raina, Jack Norris, Katie Lusby, Lucia Chocarro, Mario García-Patrón Álvarez, Nathan Bartman, Saju Hari, Vanessa Guevara Flores, Vivian Luk

    Young People

    Alongside the professional Gecko ensemble, we'll work with 40 young people in each of London and Essex, and 20 young people in Dover, The Hague and Berlin to form our cast.

    Our young performers will be originally from countries across the world - in previous projects we’ve worked with people from over 30 countries: Afghanistan to Syria, from Iran to Ethiopia, from America to the UK.

    We’ll bring these young people together to tell stories of safe passage through an extraordinary outdoor physical theatre production that connects us all and celebrates our shared humanity. And we’ll support them to become changemakers in their own communities through our legacy programme to co-create their own talks and events.

  • Creative & Production Team

    Amit Lahav, Director
    Andres Velasquez, Associate Director
    Sophia Clist, Set, Costume & Props Designer
    Michael Crean, Sound Designer
    Zac Gvirtzman, Composer
    Mat Ort, Production Manager
    Alexandra Kharibian, Costume Supervisor
    Leah Butterworth, Stage Manager
    Joni-Ann Falconer, Deputy Stage Manager

    Yvonne Gilbert, Development Sound Designer

    TEA films, Film Production Company

    Local Teams

    London

    Emma Hayes, London Local Producer
    Jasmine Ricketts, London Facilitator
    Michelle Ezeuko, London Workshop Assistant
    Nathan Bartman and Vanessa Guevara Flores, Young People’s Directors

    Essex

    Cassie Catchpole, Essex Local Producer
    Maryam Noorhimli, Essex Facilitator
    Zehra Bilgin, Essex Workshop Assistant
    Katie Lusby and Mario García-Patrón Álvarez, Young People’s Directors

    Good Chance team

    Gecko team
    including Malachy Luckie, Photography
    and Mark Sepple, Hero Image Photographer

  • Dr Amy Williams, Kindertransport Historical Adviser
    Karen Bastick-Styles, Safeguarding Consultant
    Justin McLaren, Communications Consultant (8HWE)
    Elahe Ziai, Communications Consultant (IMIX)
    Alice Sewell, Communications Consultant

    Advisory Group

    From Here On is supported and has been informed by a wide range of partners and individuals, including an Advisory Group of people with lived experience including young people who have been through the UK asylum system, a Kindertransport refugee, an education specialist, a communications expert with lived experience of displacement and specialist in this communications area, leaders of Jewish community and arts organisations, theatre directors and practitioners from a range of heritages and backgrounds, and local community specialists.

    Patrons

    Lord Alf Dubs and Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley, who both came to the UK as refugees on the Kindertransport.

    Further Acknowledgments

    The stories of young people seeking sanctuary depicted in the performance are inspired by testimonies of individuals who have recently sought sanctuary in the UK and collated from the book 'Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain' by Eithne Nightingale.

    Thank you to Tendring District Council and British Land for hosting the Harwich & London performances respectively.

From Here On has been created in partnership with

and has been generously supported by

and Jessica Foung and Alexander & Brenda Leff

See Safe Passage's Routes to Safety campaign for more information about current threats to safe routes for children.