A new play, “Coming To Birmingham: Making Of A Modern City”, is to be performed at the National Trust’s Back-to-Backs in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham on the eve of the Commonwealth Games.
The play celebrates Birmingham’s diversity and inclusivity.
The play, written by local poet and playwright Ian Henery, deals with two families from the Commonwealth who respond to Britain’s call to make Britain great again after the Second World War. The families come to Birmingham from Singapore and Hong Kong. The families witness the devastation of the Birmingham Blitz and rely on the kindness of strangers for lodgings, staying at Back-to-Backs in Hurst Street, before establishing a social club and school in Bromsgrove Street in the embryonic Chinese Quarter.
“The play has been in script development since April” explained Ian Henery “and we have tested the material at the Walsall Festival of Words, Radio Public Festival, Black Country Festival and Lichfield Fuse Festival. We are looking forward to bringing it home to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games.”
The cast includes alumni from New Earth Theatre Academy at the Birmingham Hippodrome, Chinese Active Citizens U.K., the Chinese Community Centre Birmingham and Chameleon Drama. The play is directed by Phil Liptrot from A Comedy Theatre Group in Stourbridge.
The performance will be on 25th July at 5.30pm at Back-to-Backs in Hurst Street Birmingham. Tickets are just a donation of £2.50 to the National Trust.
