Bradford College ESOL Students to Perform at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

BRADFORD, U.K. - June 21, 2023 - PRLog -- The United Nations High Commission for Refugees will host the fundraising event 'Moving Stories' on Sunday 25 June to mark the finale of Refugee Week - the world's largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity, and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.

The Bradford College ESOL students speak English as a second language and many are refugees or asylum seekers - some arriving in the country as recently as January this year. The students have been invited to perform work alongside other sketches, short plays, and songs examining the experiences of refugees.

The group will travel to London to present 'Because,' a script by internationally acclaimed British playwright, David Edgar.  The play was released without copyright restrictions to mark Refugee Week and follows the poignant story of an ESOL teacher learning about the past of one of her students.

The celebrity cast performing on the same evening includes Sir Simon Russell Beale CBE, David Morrissey, Omar Baroud, Mackenzie Crook, Rakie Ayola, Caroline Sheen, Ray Fearon and more. All artists give their time for free to support the UN refugee agency with profits donated towards refugees affected by the war in Ukraine.

Bradford College has a successful history of working with marginalised groups and was named the first College of Sanctuary in West Yorkshire by City of Sanctuary UK. The region receives around 13% of the UK's Asylum Seekers with Bradford one of four locations to receive the highest proportion.

Bradford College ESOL Lecturer Esther Wilkey explained:

"Bradford College has a long-standing connection with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Several years ago, we created 'Shakespeare Club' as a powerful new method of teaching English to ESOL students. The programme is for asylum seekers and immigrants, many of whom have experienced trauma, live alone, or are carers and translators for family.

"The Shakespeare Club also explores themes of identity, power, relationships, immigration, safety, etc. and has now developed into our whole department tutorial programme and benefitted well over 500 students. Many have progressed from ESOL to GCSE and A Level courses and are now studying at universities all over the country."

For more information, visit: https://www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/adult-courses/esol/