Dido's Bar Residency at Meidän Festivaali: Aeneas, Migration and Europe
Marouf Majidi at research and development workshops for Dido’s Bar in Cove Park, 2020.
Finland, here we come! We're very excited to be spending a week at Meidän Festivaali as their artists in residence, at the beautiful Lake Tuusulanjärvi later this month.
The week-long residency forms part of the research and development process for our immersive gig-theatre production Dido's Bar – a contemporary reimagining of Virgil’s Aeneid, exploring this timeless tale of migration through the lens of Europe today.
The Dido's Bar creative team, made up of director Josephine Burton, Finnish-Iranian composer Marouf Majidi and playwright Hattie Naylor, will be working alongside three international artists during the residency.
Our creative team was chosen in 2019 by Meidän Festivaali and Globe Art Point for their joint G.A.P LAB residency, which advocates for cultural equity, diversity and inclusion in the arts and cultural sector in Finland.
The work-in-progress will be revealed on the closing day of the festival, Saturday 31 July at 4pm, as a ticketed event.
Josephine Burton, director
Marouf Majidi, composer
Hattie Naylor, playwright
Riku Kantola, musician
Tuukka Leppänen, actor-musician
Samira Brahmia, actor-musician
Read an article in Finnish Music Quarterly about the residency.
Tickets are available here.
Read More About Dido’s Bar:
Artistic director and Director of Dido's Bar, Josephine Burton, looks back on its 5 year journey from a coffee in Helsinki to a UK tour.
Josephine Burton reflects on the protests in Iran, and her friendship with Marouf Majidi.
Artistic director and director of Dido’s Bar, Josephine Burton, shares her thoughts on how we’re keeping current political issues in mind while developing this production.
What part does music play in a refugee’s journey? Josephine Burton describes her experience meeting and getting to know Marouf Majidi, and how music transformed his experience of belonging and kinship.
Josephine Burton shares her reflections on her recent visit to Falmouth to work on the second act of our upcoming production, Dido’s Bar.
Playwright Hattie Naylor shares her experience of the Dido’s Bar residency at Meidän Festivaali in Finland, musing on the production's relevance and its power to resonate with international audiences.
Finland, here we come! We're very excited to be spending a week at Meidän Festivaali as their artists in residence, at the beautiful Lake Tuusulanjärvi later this month.
Artistic Director Josephine Burton reflects on a week’s residency in the wild Scottish highlands, starting a journey towards a new Dash production.
This October saw my 8th or 9th visit to WOMEX – this time held in its apparently northernmost location in Tampere, Finland.
Listen to Our Podcast Episodes exploring Dido’s BAr:
Dash Arts podcasts with young people from Newham who are part of Community Links. The discussions revolves around Dido’s Bar, it’s themes and how it relates with their lives.
Listen to hear how the Writer and Director of Dido’s Bar tackled telling the story of a refugee and how music has been weaved into the fabric of the performance.
Listen to explore how storytelling can reclaim lost stories in myth and how we’re rebalancing the gender dynamics in our next production, Dido's Bar.
In this episode, we explore three epic poems and their relevance today. Delve into how these tales compel us today, and the oral storytelling traditions that shape their impact.
Hear about how director Josephine Burton, playwright Hattie Naylor and composer Marouf Majidi crossed paths and came to collaborate on this project.
Discover the myth of Aeneas and its significance in society today. Delve into the inspirations behind the production itself, its origin story and its theatrical vision.