A Festival of Theatre, Spoken Word, Dance, and Music Comes to The Bunker

Bunker Without Borders is a week-long festival at The Bunker exploring the question 'what might a world without borders look like, sound like, feel like, be like?'. The festival seeks to share stories in search of a united way forward in the current global climate.

Curated with playwright Firdos Ali, spoken word artist James Chelliah, and artists from the Bhumi Collective, The Bunker's Artistic Director Joshua McTaggart has programmed a series of evenings that place a diverse range of voices on stage from a variety of different backgrounds, cultures, countries, and perspectives.

Ali has worked to present a kaleidoscope of responses to the world around us. Across the week, work from seven playwrights Ali, Amber Hsu, Mahad Ali, Rabiah Hussain, Daniel York, Alexandra Donnachie, and Nicole Latchana will be performed. Highlights of the festival include Latchna's Fennel-Spiked Lamb which tells the true story of a Bangladeshi immigrant forced into modern-day slavery in Scotland and Hussain's Dissected in which two young female Muslim pathologists must their belief under the microscope as faith and forensics collide.

The week also features 15 of the city's most exciting spoken word artists, who will perform in sets of three. Chelliah has scoured the London spoken word scene for an eclectic mix of performers who can bring their distinct words to The Bunker, ranging from Charlie de Courcy, the founder of London's definitive spoken word evening Word Up, to rapper, singer, and spoken word artist Kitty Got Claws and poet Lex Sciore.

McTaggart comments, Bunker Without Borders is about celebrating and representing the incredible breadth and depth of story-telling the artists in this city has to offer. The Bunker came to fruition in a turbulent world, and it is our duty as theatre-makers to face those turbulences head on and ask 'why?' and, more importantly, 'what next?'. It was important to us at The Bunker that we looked beyond just theatre, and we are thrilled to be continuing The Bunker's tradition of music, spoken word, and dance, alongside a unique set of theatrical offerings. We want Bunker Without Borders to be the start of something bigger, not just a week-long festival and with the energy and excitement this incredible group of artists is bringing to The Bunker, I cannot wait to see what we discover and how, as a united group, we can move forward together.

Each evening of Bunker Without Borders will be complete with music and dance, and accompanied by The Bunker's usual 'stick around' ethos with space for responses, discussions, and drinks at the bar.