About Here, There, Now
HERE, THERE, NOW is an exciting artistic collaboration, an international storytelling project between young women actors of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and West London, UK, in partnership with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre of London, UK, under Nhimbe Trust's long-running Women in Theatre & Television programme.
This project is presented in partnership with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Nhimbe Trust and is funded by British Council as part of their Digital Collaboration and Storytelling Grants scheme.
The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre said in their announcement on 8 April, "We are delighted to be partnering with Nhimbe Trust Zimbabwe and the British Council on Here, There, Now, a new digital storytelling collaboration that will bring together young Black women, aged 18–25, from West London and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to create work exploring themes of womanhood, identity and race. UK-based theatre director and writer Monique Touko and Zimbabwe-based award-winning actor, creative, poet and director ‘Lady Tshawe’ (Nomashawekazi Damasane) will lead a series of workshops throughout May 2021.
In response to Black Lives Matter and events of 2020 including the ongoing effects of the pandemic, the online collaboration HERE, THERE, NOW will provide young women with the agency, power and platform to share their voice and stories with others who are experiencing the same issues from the other side of the globe. Online workshops will run simultaneously from London and Bulawayo as participants come together to create monologues inspired by their individual experiences yet which will be performed by their counterpart overseas. The monologues created through the workshops will be filmed and shared online and available to watch in July.
