2026
Painting the Roses Red
As nationalism, patriotism and racism escalate in the UK, Grace, a young Black American woman who is attempting to renew her visa, finds herself lost in an ever changing, absurdly bureaucratic and at times, biased immigration process.
Inspired by the world of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Painting the Roses Red questions what it means to belong, whether one can truly define "being British" and what the Union flag and St George's Cross stand for today.
Crag Pit
In April 2026 we began our research and development of our new piece Painting the Roses Red, on the shores of Adleburgh, Uk. Nine international performers will join our artistic team in bringing this new piece about immigration in the UK to life. We were thrilled to be hosted by Crag Pit to do this necessary work.
Our Influences & Future Plans
Inspired by the Operation Raise the Colours campaign, whose red painted, pinned and stapled crosses quickly seeped into daily life in the UK last August/ September, we decided to create a piece of theatre which explores this red and white patriotic hysteria. The visual image of white roundabouts, car park signs and white chalk horses being imposed upon by the red cross of the St George's flag, reminded us of Lewis Carroll's iconic moment from Alice in Wonderland where the playing cards encourage Alice to help them paint the white roses red. From that moment, we began to build a world merging together wonderland and a UK visa centre in 2026. The show mixes absurdism, naturalism, song, a sprinkling of audience participation as well as an immersive beginning, making the audience visa applicants themselves as they enter the theatre. From the beginning, our audience are complicit in the experience that our protagonist, Grace, endures throughout the next 55 minutes.
Painting the Roses Red aims to question, provoke and challenge the audience rather than preach or lecture. We think it is important, especially now, to give artistic space to talk about immigration, racial aggression and the fine line that patriotism walks between nationalistic pride and fear of "the other".
So far we have developed the piece over two separate residencies and had a public showing aimed at gathering audience feedback at the Old Drama Studio at Bedales School in June 2026. We will be playing the piece at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August at Riddle's Court, Greenside Venues from the 17th-29th. As a company, this is our first piece of theatre and our first time taking something to Edinburgh. We see each step as an incredibly resourceful learning experience and can't wait to put what we've learned into future projects. Financially, this is currently a self-funded project by Rowena Le Poer Trench and Anasazi Bhakti, both of whom are recent graduates of the École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq and Guy Martin who is currently studying at the University of Southampton.