The Holding Place
Producer: York Theatre Royal
Writer: Matt Harper and Catherine Heinemeyer
Director: Matt Harper
The Holding Place…
"It is one of hope and promise. As his father, I should be able to give him that. Even here. So it has to be in the form of a story. I can understand a myth more than what is actually going on around us."
2016 - The current refugee crisis. Something that evokes debate, something which burdens hearts, begs for facts, fuels controversy, questions humanity, waits for answers. It is sensitive and politically complex. The reality of it can stop people from engaging.
Yet we can pull, push, question, break and rebuild stories – myths, fables and folklore which explore similar themes of ‘home’, ‘war’, ‘safety’ and ‘family’. In the realms of fiction we can comment, dissect and debate with great abandon; with seemingly no direct impact or consequence on real life. This is where the magic of theatre and storytelling takes over.
Fused with real life stories from Calais and Palestine and the Greek myth of Dido and Aeneas, The Holding Place is a journey through everything we lose and find when we are looking for our place of belonging; one of fact and fiction, of past a present, of loss, but above all, of hope.
