In an Australian premiere, We Come From Far Far Away is heading to Adelaide as part of the DreamBIG Children’s Festival this May.
We Come From Far Far Away follows the story of two boys from Aleppo who travel to Norway. This is a road trip type of story – but it’s complicated. It’s about things, people, and places but also about survival, fear, friendship, and separation. This work was developed with Hvalstad Transittmottak, an Asylum Centre providing a first reception point for refugees aged 13 – 18 who arrive in Norway alone. We Come from Far Far Away uses live music, storytelling, clowning, and shadow puppetry to engage, entertain and say something big.
New International Encounter (NIE Theatre) are the creators behind this work and their artistic director, Kiell Moberg, spoke with me regarding We Come From Far Far Away and the importances of making theatre accessible to all – young and old.
“The core of our work is to make theatre accessible to as many people as possible, and the signature of our work is that we use all theatrical means to tell our stories. Humour is always important even if the tale is dark, and we use live music and puppetry in an immersive setting to bring the audience into our narratives. We also work with layers of information in our plays so that young people and adults can experience the stories on their level. We often refer to it as reaching out for the horizon of experience in every audience member.
“The Nigerian poet Ben Okri often talks about language that can be beyond words. This is a paradox in many ways, but it can be explained simply – both music and theatre can work beyond words and tones, in the feelings that are created in the room. The experience should be a total sharing of space between performers and onlookers.”
Kjell Moberg shared where the idea for We Come From Far Far Away came from.
“In the years 2014 – 2019 our company did a lot of volunteer work in asylum centres in Norway. In this period, we worked a lot with young refugees under 18 who had arrived in Norway on their own. One winter evening we asked the group to help us with the topic for our next show. One of the participants, who was 15 at the time, said something like, “You should tell the story about us! All our stories are different, but we all have one thing in common. We have been on quite a journey, and we are children. And we all come from far away.” Later when we started to create the piece, we would work for some days, and then show it to the teenagers. They would have comments and suggestions, and with those we continued until we had a show that both they and we believed in.”
We Come From Far Far Away will be a part of the DreamBIG Children’s Festival this May.
“We are very excited to bring the Australian audience into our yurt to find the small tent and the magic inside the big tent. We look forward to sharing this story with a lot of humour, music, animation, and hope.”
We Come From Far Far Away, which is part of the DreamBIG Children’s Festival, will be at the Drama Centre Rehearsal Room – Adelaide Festival Centre on Saturday 27 May at 11.45am and 2.30pm. Tickets and further information can be found at https://dreambig.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/we-come-from-far-far-away .Â
Interviewed by Ben Stefanoff
Photo credit: Tomas Lauvland Pettersen
