PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 12 Asylum' - theatre for development in Oxford

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 12 `Asylum' - theatre for development in Oxford Alison Norris Introduction used physical images. Our bodies symbolised our feelings about freedom and prison. We On the outskirts of Oxford is Campsfield gently modelled each other to make more Detention Centre which holds people seeking complex, silent tableaux, then animated these. `Asylum' in Britain. Many locals do not realise that Campsfield exists. `Asylum' was a We struggled to understand what being held in Forum Theatre partnership between a small Campsfield was like, until the ex-detainees NGO (Oxford Development Education Centre) made a series of tableaux taking us through a and an amateur theatre company, financed by typical day. Everyone in the group started to an EC grant channelled through Oxfam. Our make connections with each other. People aim was public education about forced collected newspaper articles and requested migration and claiming `Asylum' and hoped to more information; a lawyer came to visit; an spur audiences into taking action. ex-prisoner in the group added his experience. Making connections, sharing As trust grew we explored the racism bound experiences up in the issues. We began to get a shared understanding of what we were trying to challenge. ...