Q & A with Red Ladder’s Artistic Director, Cheryl Martin
2024 September 6Sanctuary is Cheryl Martin’s first full production since taking over in January this year. Here, Red Ladder’s artistic director talks about the issues tackled in the musical, the impact theatre can have and the importance of supporting local arts organisations.
Sanctuary is your first Red Ladder show as director. How did it come about?
Work started on it last year before I arrived, but in a previous role I worked for about eight years with mostly women asylum seekers and refugees creating big community shows in Manchester. So while I didn’t choose this play, if I could have chosen a topic this is one I would have gone for because it’s something I think is very important.
What are the key issues explored in Sanctuary and why are they important?
I think what’s important is the distance between who the asylum seekers and refugees actually are and who people think they are, based on what they read about them. A lot of the people I worked with were doctors, teachers, or chemists, all very highly skilled. Most of them were forced to flee because they stood up for someone in their country of origin, or they’d stuck their neck out for free speech, or women’s rights. People are running from places like Iran and Syria for these reasons which makes them heroes in my eyes. They go through so much and they come to countries like ours because they think it’s a safe haven. So this production is about sanctuary and what sort of country we want to be.
Asylum seekers and refugees are unlikely topics for a musical to tackle don’t you think?
It’s a different kind of musical. It’s not like Mary Poppins! It’s set in a C of E church but that doesn’t mean it’s church music. The music is from the heart so it’s very emotional, and we hope people leave feeling moved by it because though it’s a story it’s also a reflection of real lives.
This is your first production since you became Red Ladder’s artistic director. What are you most looking forward to?
I’m really looking forward to taking it from page to stage and having real voices and real characters. We’re working with CAPA College in Wakefield whose students make up our chorus. The students are only 16 or 17 and I’ve been blown away seeing how good they are in the workshops. I was nowhere near this good when I was their age. So I’m really excited to be working with them. I’m also looking forward to working with the cast. As a director I never tell actors what to do. I start by asking them what they see in the character and build on that. I can’t wait to see what they bring. The biggest buzz is when the actors go beyond you as a director and their performance just takes off. I’m also excited to see how audiences respond to the story and the characters.
“It’s a brilliant first project to work on – it’s got such a great group of people, and has such a strong message. It’s just been really educational.” - Isobel, CAPA Student & Assistant Director
You’ve mentioned that students from CAPA College are providing the chorus for the show. What difference do these collaborations with local arts organisations and colleges make?
The beating heart of our theatre company is Red Ladder Local, which is all about working in non-traditional theatre spaces and reaching people who don’t normally go to a traditional theatre. I’ve been to a few of these performances and the connection you get with the audiences for the shows is so intense and so different from what you normally get. Our shows wouldn’t be the same without the collaborations we do with the likes of CAPA. And for these young people it’s such a priceless experience because they come out on the road with us. We’re helping them by giving them a real world experience and they’re helping us by enabling us to expand what we’re able to do with this play. We’ve all read a lot lately about arts funding cuts so being able to help a group of young people get theatre experience like this is crucial. Collaborations like this are at the heart of what we do and I’m delighted we’re able to do that with this show.
“I live near Huddersfield so the LBT (Lawrence Batley Theatre) is our theatre, it’s where we grew up and we’ve done so many shows there when we were little, so it’s really exciting to be going on tour near where we live.” – Ellie, Sanctuary chorus member
You’re working with Boff Whalley and Sarah Woods who have written Sanctuary. What’s it like collaborating on a project like this?
I love collaborating on productions. I think the songs will have a really big impact and I feel very lucky to be working with Boff and Sarah. I’m very pleased to have inherited this play.
Why is it important that stories like Sanctuary are told?
We’ve all seen the headlines about immigration and asylum seekers and in an election year it really does become a political football. And this year we’ve see the horror of what happens when people lose sight of our common humanity.
Theatre is an antidote to that, it’s about what it’s like to be human and that’s what this story is talking about – it’s more than just a newspaper headline or a video on YouTube.
There’s also more than one point of view. I want this show to reach as many people as possible. After the far-right violence, our story feels more urgent. There are characters in the play who are very anti-immigration and some whose parents travelled to the UK but who feel this new wave of immigrants are breaking the rules. So it’s not a simple, one-dimensional way of looking at things, it’s much more rounded that.
Good drama makes human stories feel very real and highlights our shared humanity. That’s what I’m hoping Sanctuary can do.
