contacting the world in manchester

Last summer six youth theatre groups from Syria, Jordan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria were paired with six theatre groups from across the UK as part of the Connecting Futures agenda.

Over a ten-month period, the 12 participating groups communicated with each other via the internet in order to devise 12 new theatre productions that were performed at Contact Theatre in Manchester in July 2004.

The project provided a global platform for young people to engage in cultural exchange and provided a process of theatre making that enabled the participants to connect with each other, across boundaries of history, geography and culture. It was designed to create links that will continue to grow and develop well beyond the timescale of the project itself.

Lead artists Shabina Aslam, Diversity Director for BBC Radio and playwright, director and teacher Noel Greig (Royal Court, National Theatre, Leicester Haymarket) oversaw the creative development of the project.