Hannah Khalil: Is the UK’s hostile policy towards refugees having an impact on the arts?

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Cast members during a performance of Trouf: Scenes from 75* Years at Theatro Technis, London. Photo: Bayrem Ben M’rad

I recently had one of the most challenging weeks of my career, and that’s saying something for someone who works in theatre in 2023. Let me explain: my play Trouf: Scenes from 75* Years was coming to London at last. An epic play about life in Palestine, this Tunisian version was mounted in a British Council-funded production in Tunisia in 2019, with a company of Tunisian actors plus one British-Moroccan actor, co-directed by a British and Tunisian director, and performed in three languages: it’s a triumph of cross-cultural collaboration.

The idea was always to bring Trouf to London after Tunisia but that didn’t happen in 2020 for obvious reasons, so when Shubbak, London’s Arab arts festival, approached us about programming it, I was delighted. Pre-production began in earnest trying to raise the money for the show, plus all of the form filling required to make this dream a reality. But alarm bells started ringing for me about a month ago, when one of our Tunisian producers was denied his visa.

Of our eight-strong contingent, five were actors, plus our co-director, the assistant director and a technician. All the visa applications were completed by the same person (who has a huge amount of experience in that area) and they all contained exactly the same information, including the dates of the show. The applications were submitted in a timely fashion. Then we waited. Six of the visas were issued. But by Wednesday, June 28 – three days before the company was due to fly to the UK – two of the actors still hadn’t had an answer. My panic was rising. Then, on Thursday, June 29, disaster: we heard one of the two remaining visas had been denied.

Many times I wondered if we should throw in the towel, but the directors were adamant

I was in shock. Every detail of this application was exactly the same as all the others, including the ones that had been granted. I read over the refusal email: “I am not satisfied that your proposed spend is commensurate with your circumstances or to the duration of your proposed spend, and this undermines the credibility of your application to the extent that I am not satisfied that you are a genuine visitor who would leave the UK at the end of your proposed visit. Your application is therefore refused under paragraph V 4.2 (a) and (c). In relation to this decision, there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review.”

We were devastated; our actor embarrassed and humiliated by the process and outcome. We discussed contingency. I decided I would write new scenes for the play that our actor in Tunisia could record on video, so they wouldn’t be excluded entirely. Most pressingly, we had to find an actor in the UK who could speak
Tunisian (not as easy as you might think) and who could step in at the last minute. Our micro budget was already at capacity, adding to our stress. Amazingly, we managed to find an actor, and so we screwed our courage to the sticking place and soldiered on.

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The team who had their visas flew to London, but there was still one more actor’s visa yet to be determined. We reasoned the delay might be down to the Eid holiday. The first day in the rehearsal room came and went. Still no answer on the final visa. Our assistant director bravely offered to cover the part if necessary, which we very quickly saw it was. Throughout all this, there was no communication at all from the UK visa application service. That is, until Thursday, July 6, at 5pm – two hours before the show was due to open in London – our final actor was to be granted their visa. Of course, it was too late, as whoever granted that visa would know because the dates for the show were on the application. Granting it at that late stage was as good as denying it.

Many times in the week I wondered if we should throw in the towel, but the directors were adamant that we had to go ahead for the sake of the actors who had come. Somehow, this band of incredible humans performed the show against all the odds, and the audience couldn’t believe what they had achieved. Everyone was moved and impressed.

Whoever granted that visa would know issuing it that late was as good as denying it

The final twist in the story came two hours before the last performance in London – the actor whose visa had been denied was told that the decision had been reversed. It was certainly pointless and only added to our feelings of frustration. It’s hard to understand the whole process – was the initial refusal and late approval cynical? Or was it simply incompetence, or disorganisation? If the latter, it’s entirely unacceptable given the price of visa applications.

The show did go on – albeit in a disjointed version of itself. But the experience has left real emotional scars for everyone involved, and worse than that, suspicion and confusion. Cross-cultural collaboration is vital if the UK is to continue to be at the forefront of the arts worldwide. Trust is the bedrock of all of these collaborative endeavours and exchanges – it takes time to nurture, but moments to destroy with the sweep of a bureaucrat’s red pen. I’m left feeling that the UK’s hostile policy towards refugees and migrants is bleeding into every area of life, stifling and stunting growth and creativity, denying audiences enriching experiences that show us we are more the same than different – an important message in a divisive moment.

This group of wonderful Tunisian artists just wanted to come and do a play for a week in London, take a picture with Big Ben and go home. After learning of our visa woes at the show one night, a well-meaning woman remarked to me that she would have expected the situation more if the company was Palestinian, but expressed surprise that it had happened to a group of Tunisians. What I should have said is that it is people, not borders, that are important, whether Tunisians or Palestinians, or indeed British artists trying to work in Europe post-Brexit. People not borders, no matter the nationality.