The Walk (Good Chance Theatre; Photo – Bevan Roos)

Manchester International Festival (February 2020 – July 2021)

The Walk was a travelling festival of art and hope in support of refugees – an epic cultural journey across Europe transcending borders, politics and language created by renowned artist collective Good Chance (creators of critically-acclaimed The Jungle) and world-famous creators of War Horse, Handspring Puppet Company.

The Walk was centred on Little Amal, a 3.5-metre puppet of a nine-year-old refugee girl who set out from the Syria-Turkey border in July 2021 on an 8,000-kilometre odyssey to Manchester in search of her mother. For three months, Little Amal travelled across Europe, welcomed with special events in villages, towns and cities across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK. Little Amal represents displaced children around the world, many separated from their families and all more vulnerable than ever during the pandemic.

In July 2021 Manchester International Festival presented A Sleeping Child – a special prelude to Little Amal’s epic odyssey created by director Cheryl Martin that introduced Manchester audiences to the project – and in November 2021 MIF hosted the powerful conclusion to The Walk as Little Amal was welcomed into the city at the end of her journey.

I was MIF Producer for The Walk from February 2020 to July 2021, overseeing the Festival’s relationship with Good Chance Theatre and the wider project and leading on development of both A Sleeping Child and the November 2021 finale event. I was co-producer of A Sleeping Child.