Syrian artist Hamzeh Al Hussien brings his journey as a refugee to Leeds Playhouse
Given how posh the arts are these days many performers easily graduate from public school to the stage, but Syrian artist Hamzeh Al Hussien took a very different route.
His family were displaced during the brutal Syrian civil war meant he spent six years in a refugee camp before this disability made him a priority for resettlement in the UK, and he came with his brother to the North East
In his new show Penguin aided by some simple props in the rehearsal room, he conjures a vision of an idyllic village in Syria, a place with a backdrop of mountains, a river and a waterfall, and with caves. There are orchards where as a young boy he once stole lemons, and was shamed by his brother into giving them back.
It’s also a place he lived with his parents, two brothers and three sisters, a...