'The Promise' aims to creatively portray findings of King's Legal Clinic research on the Windrush scandal and the experiences of the Windrush community.
On 4 July, King's Legal Clinic hosted the first performance of 'The Promise' to an invited audience of stakeholders from across Government, Parliament, the Windrush community, charities, legal press and others.
Funded by King's Culture, 'The Promise' is part of 'Lost and Found: Stories of Sanctuary and Belonging', a free programme of arts and ideas at King's, created with artists, researchers, academics and communities from London and beyond.
The immersive performance draws on real-life testimonies from those impacted by the Home Office Windrush scandal, alongside research undertaken by King's Legal Clinic to provide new insights into the ongoing harms of the Home Office Windrush scandal.
Audiences embarked on an interactive journey of obstacles, loopholes, tests and trials across multiple rooms in the historic King's Building on the Strand Campus - all designed to reflect the frustrations and betrayals of those navigating the Windrush Compensation Scheme (WCS).
Friday's performance was followed by three sold out performances on Saturday where 75 members of the public attended. They described the performance as 'very moving', 'insightful' and a 'shocking injustice' and would recommend others see the show.
Audiences attended a post-show reception, where they had the opportunity to discuss the performance and the issues raised with a range of experts, including Windrush community members, Southwark Law Centre, Action for Racial Equality, and Claudio Jones Organisation. 80% of attendees reported they learned a lot about the impact of the WCS with the remaining 20 % stating they already had knowledge as they were victim-survivors or advocates. 100% believed that the WCS needed reform, with all supporting the introduction of government-funded legal advice for victims. Between 60-80% supported a public Inquiry and an independent body to administer the WCS.
Creative collaboration
The performance was developed by theatre-makers Tian Brown-Sampson and Brian Mullin in collaboration with Shaila Pal from King's Legal Clinic, as well as members of the Windrush community, including Windrush Lives, Windrush Justice Clinic clients, and Southwark Law Centre. To develop the performance, survivors and victims of the Windrush scandal generously shared their experience with Brian and Tian over a period of a year.
The experience of collaborating with King's Legal Clinic and the activists from Windrush Lives and beyond has been profound and incredibly meaningful to our work as socially-engaged artists. We decided to approach our work as an interactive theatre piece so that members of the public could take a journey like those experienced by impacted families, feeling their isolation and frustration, as well as the sense of resilience and allyship that helps them persevere. We could not have created any of this without the incredible contributions from the scandal survivors and campaigners, the Clinic, and King's law student volunteers. Feedback from our first audiences was very positive and we're keen to develop the work further, so that more people can experience it and become activated in the campaign for reform.
Tian Brown-Sampson & Brian Mullin, Co-Creators, The Promise
The Windrush scandal is not over, it is far from being over. This is why the Promise is important, developing the production with Brian and Tian touched our emotions deeply. When I saw the Promise, I though this is totally different and engaging. I believe it can help educate the public in a unique way, not just sitting down and watching something but actually being part of it. It engages their feelings and minds and will hopefully make people understand what we are still going through.
Hetticia McIntosh, WJC client and advocate
King's students from the Windrush Justice Clinic worked alongside Brian and Tian on the performance, including developing realistic props and documents relating to the WCS and performing in the Promise.
The Promise amplifies the findings of Windrush research at King's and the voice of our WJC clients and Windrush community in a truly evocative and thought-provoking way. The performance has supported conversations with policymakers and key stakeholders to enable consideration of the recommendations of our research. Observing how moved and at times shocked audience members were provided me with new insights on the power and educational value of creative collaborations with experts by experience, artists, students and our community partners. Through the Promise, Tian and Brian have innovatively and deftly harnessed the human story that lies at the heart of the scandal to facilitate public knowledge of migration, citizenship, race and the historic and continuing impact of law and policy on communities in the UK.
Shaila Pal, Director of King's Legal Clinic
King's Legal Clinic joined the Windrush Justice Clinic (WJC) in October 2021. Working in partnership with Southwark Law Centre King's, the WJC provides victims of the Windrush scandal with free legal representation to secure just compensation for their loss and suffering. The WJC also conducts research on the accessibility and fairness of the WCS.
