press & news
We regularly contribute to national and international discussions about the challenges faced by refugees, particularly young people. We also love talking about the power of theatre for change. If you would like to get in touch, we will be able to send you our media guidance.
2024
Innovation in Politics Awards
Phosphoros Theatre finalists for the ‘Innovation in Politics Awards 2024’ in the Social Cohesion category.
2023
Guardian
’A Great British Welcome: refugees’ lives transformed in the UK – in pictures’
Feature on the Great British Welcome photo exhibition
UNHCR stories
Refugee actors take centre stage: feature about our work
UNHCR Great British Welcome
Photo exhibition in London Bridge 12.10.23-09.11.23
Celebrating refugee organisations around the UK
Bristol 24/7
’A beautifully imagined piece of theatre’
Review of ‘All the beds I have slept in’, at Bristol Old Vic, 02.23
BBC News
’Bristol refugees share stories through theatre project’, 02.23
”I see myself as a representative of refugees who have had similar experiences to me.”
2022
The Conversationalist
‘In our own words’: refugee actors share their stories on stage featuring Syed
Sky News
Syed speaks to Sky News about issues in Afghanistan
Metro Radio News
’Newcastle theatre to host real stories of refugees’ feature
2021
BBC Radio 4
Syed speaks on BBC Radio 4. Listen to minutes 29-36.
London Migration Film Festival
Syed sits on the panel at the screening of the film Flee presented by LMFF and The People’s Film Club
Winner of National Men and Boys Coalition Award
Phosphoros Theatre wins award recognising outstanding contribution to promoting care, compassion and social change for mens and boys in the UK.
Sky News Sky News speak to Syed about ‘All the beds I have slept in’
Royal Opera House lullabies for Little Amal
Phosphoros Theatre performs original pieces as part of ‘A Bed for the Night’ in The Arts Desk
The Stage
‘Theatre companies appeal for industry support for work with Afghan refugees’ - an article in The Stage
BBC News North West
‘All the beds I have slept in’ on BBC News North West
‘You’re in a new world’: refugee actors share their journey on stage
The Guardian, Nadia Khomami
Migreatives podcast
Woven Voices present Migreatives podcast. Season 2 episode 3, they speak to Syed.
Privacy International
A filmed campaign featurng Syed and Tewodros, directed by Esther Dix
2020
Refugee Week 2020: Overview & Selected Highlights
Phosphoros Theatre refugee week programme case study
CSSD Inspiring Entrepreneurs
Kate Duffy-Syedi shares advice for graduates
Barbed Wire Fever
But Everything Has an Ending: Refugees Responding to COVID-19
I’ll lend you my coat so you feel warm
Groups from across the country share poetry in response to watching Pizza Shop Heroes online
Pepita Productions: Refugee Week Radio Show
Kate Duffy-Syedi and Haleem Syedi featured (in association with Counterpoints Arts)
Challenging Hostile Environments in the Arts
Best practice suggestions for the industry from our panel discussion in Refugee Week
Human Rights Solidarity: Refugee Solidarity Week
Haleem Syedi and Gulwali Passarlay featured
Al Jazeera
With the stage dark due to coronavirus, theatre goes online. But everything has an ending featured in Al Jazeera
Moments of togetherness in shared digital spaces.
Rebecca Hayes Laughton and Kate Duffy write for Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
2019
Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor Pizza Shop Heroes Edinburgh Fringe review:“This is a show in which the lived experience of the performers shines through, reminding us that if they are heroes it is because they have to be. They don’t have any choice.”
★★★★★ The Skinny Pizza Shop Heroes Edinburgh Fringe review: “This is a resilient, defiant and utterly real reclamation of voices by a group so often ignored, misunderstood or spoken for.”
★★★★ Broadway Baby Pizza Shop Heroes Edinburgh Fringe review: “Pizza Shop Heroes is a very skilled piece of theatre-making by one of the country’s leading applied theatre companies. It’s greatly important that many people see it. It is a theatre for our future.
★★★★ Three Weeks Pizza Shop Heroes Edinburgh Fringe review:“What makes this show fly are the touches added to make it a fundamentally human story, most notably when the script opens up ideas of a future that just might make it all worthwhile, somehow or other.
BBC Radio Leicester Listen to the interview - Liam and Syed speak to Dave Andrew
The List
10 Edinburgh Festival Fringe productions that offer something out of the ordinary
Al Jazeera Refugee Theatre Group Challenging UK Immigration Policy
Huffington Post 'If Refugees Like Me Don't Tell Our Stories, Who Will?’ - Syed writes in the Huffington Post
Metro ‘I am a refugee and the stage is where I tell my story’ - Syed writes in the Metro
BBC Radio Nottingham
Emirjon and Liam are interviewed for the Carson Wishart show
BBC Radio Nottingham Syed is interviewed by Sunita Passi
BBC Radio Kent
Liam is interviewed by Anna Louise Walter for the Sunday Breakfast programme
The Unicorn Theatre
The Unicorn Theatre announce Phosphoros Theatre as their new Associate Company for 2019/20
Media Diversified Pizza Shop Heroes Sees Asylum Seekers and Refugees Tell Their Own Stories
Evening Standard
Theatre of Refugees Heads to the Fringe
Newsweek
Watch the interview with Syed
Sky News
Watch the interview with Kate and Syed
The Stage
Refugee theatre company denied entry to Malta after airline deemed cast 'suspicious'
The Independent Refugee actor invited to perform migration play in Malta barred entry by immigration officials
Phosphoros Theatre’s Statement
Company barred from entering Malta
The Times of Malta
Refugee actors cancel Malta shows after immigration denies actor entry
The Times of Malta
From hiding in lorries to performing on stage
The Independent
These actors were all child refugees, and their play tells their own stories
Derbyshire Telegraph
Asylum seeker who was smuggled through Asia now cricketer in Derbyshire featuring Syed
2018
ITV London News
Watch the interview
BBC World Service, Focus on Africa Listen to the podcast
Thomson Reuters Foundation
From deserts to prisons, refugee actors recall ‘heroic’ journeys to the UK
The Upcoming (Q&A)
“Rather than trying to break or warm hearts we are using theatre as resistance”
Beyond the Joke
Comedian Tom Parry Trains Refugees & Migrants To Do Stand Up
L'Actualite Magazine, Canada
Le scene comme refuge (Refugee play) – Article about Phosphoros Theatre
Beyond the Border Festival, Wales
Syed took part in a panel about Mediterranean forced migration at the Beyond the Border storytelling festival
Notts TV, Nottingham
Kate Duffy and Syed Najibi featured in an interview on Notts TV to discuss their workshop series during Refugee Week
Meeting the Lord Mayor of Sheffield Magid Magid
The Phosphoros company had a meet and greet with Magid Magid, Green Party MEP and former counsellor, activist and former refugee
Storytelling As Refuge/Storytelling For Refuge Conference, George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling (University of South Wales)
Kate Duffy and Syed Najibi presented an academic paper called 'In my chicken shop people look at me like I’m nothing, but these people pay to hear my story.' They also delivered a workshop to conference delegates.
UCL Psychology Department
Syed Najibi delivered a 20 minute presentation at the Beyond PTSD conference about his experiences of forced migration as an Unaccompanied Minor
REACT Festival, Bristol
After a performance and workshop, Kate Duffy participated in a discussion panel about making theatre with refugees
2017
Morning Star:
'We are all the same. We are all human'
Student Action for Refugees (STAR):
Syed delivers closing speech at STAR's Annual Conference: 'Refugees Welcome? Asylum in the UK'
London Migration Film Festival:
We were invited to perform a 20 minute segment of our work at the opening gala of LMFF
Harrow Times
Harrow refugees take to the stage in ‘Dear Home Office: Still Pending’
London Live
Young refugees stage play to combat hate crime featuring Kate, Syed and Awet
Summerhall Radio
Interview with Syed
The Hot African Podcast
Njambi McGrath talks to four inspirational young men immigrants turned actors
The Scottish Herald
'Drama returns with update on refugees in the UK'
★★★★ Broadway Baby
Review
Herald Scotland
Fringe drama returns with update on refugees in the UK
Vile Arts
Dear Home Dramaturgy: Phosphoros Theatre @ Ed Fringe 2017
Arts Award Blog
Making Silver Arts Award Accessible. Guest post by Kate Duffy and Georgie Bricknell
VICE
All the gaffes I've made since arriving in the UK. Guest post by Mohamed Muumin
SOAS Radio
Interview with 'Dear Home Office'- a refugee theatre production
2016
Critical Stages Journal, Issue 14
Unheard voices, unseen face: staging stories of male refugee youth. By Rosanna Jahangard and Kate Duffy
The Unapologists
'I guess we're trying to go against the expectation of what refugee stories are, of what refugee theatre might be'
The Independent There's a reason the teenage boys I work with from the Calais Jungle look so old by Kate Duffy
Platforma
Who's afraid of political theatre? Guest post by Rosanna Jahangard
The Scotsman
Joyce McMillan: Edinburgh Fringe shows with powers of persuasion
The Times
'We took a boat. I saw people die with my own eyes'
Platforma
Theatre with unaccompanied minors goes to Edinburgh Fringe. Guest post by Kate Duffy
Arts Council England
Theatre project gives young asylum seekers a stage for their stories