Trodden (2008)

A Walking Play
by Liz Margree

TRODDEN is Unlimited’s first walking play. Which means I’m going to ask you to put on headphones, listen to me speaking-in-your-head and walk with me. Think radio play meets city-tourist-walk. With the walking being optional.

How To Do It….

To walk with me:
• download the MP3 or stream me as a podcast

• open/download The Map
• listen to the play and (if you’re in Leeds) do the walk
• Trodden is 50 minutes long

Everything is free for you to download. All we ask is that you consider signing up for our mailing list – it only takes 30 seconds and we only ever send you details of Unlimited shows.

Why I Wrote It….

In April 2007 I started to think about what it would feel like to live in Leeds but feel like a tourist. I was thinking about the way Leeds is described as the financial centre of our region and as “the Knightsbridge of the North”. I wondered where that leaves the city’s inhabitants for whom those labels simply don’t resonate – those of us who can’t afford to shop in Harvey Nichols or the people who wouldn’t even be allowed in to buy a coffee. Who don’t feel like their home is their home anymore. And at the same time I started thinking about refuge and asylum.

So I went and spoke to some good people at The Refugee Council who very kindly introduced me to five people currently living in Leeds as either refugees or asylum seekers. Women and men, from different countries, with different stories. I interviewed all of them and TRODDEN is the result. It isn’t verbatim theatre but I haven’t made anything up. It’s just their real experiences, mixed up with mine. And by making this a walking play, I hope to mix it with yours too.

The walk starts at Leeds Railway Station on the main concourse. It finishes at City Square. In between it’ll take you round the city and give you the opportunity to sit and listen as well as walk and listen.

• When you reach the starting point (see the map) press play, leave it running and start walking. Mostly you’ll hear my voice, but there are also periods in the recording where there are pauses in me speaking. During these times, continue to walk (or sit), following the map.

• Don’t worry if you get ahead of or behind my voice in terms of your walk. Just go with it as eventually we’ll both end up in the same place. But feel free to pause so you can catch up or play back if you want to. It’s your show as much as it is mine.

Your feedback as always is most welcome. Click here to send me a message.

Welcome to the show. I’m glad you could make it.

LIZ.

CREDITS….

Liz Margree (Unlimited Theatre) Writer and Performer
Andy Wood (Sound Alibi) Sound Designer and Editor
Bruce Wood (Touchwood Studios) Sound Engineer
Adrian Scully (Synergy tv) Podcast Engineer
Jon Spooner (Unlimited Theatre) Web Page/Graphic Design
Alex Smith (Unlimited Theatre) Project Management and PR