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# Powerful new musical in Lichfield to explore issues of safety and sanctuary
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/powerful-new-musical-in-lichfield-to-explore-issues-of-safety-and-sanctuary/
- Published: 2024-09-10T06:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-09-09T10:08:31.000Z
- Description: A new musical from the Red Ladder Company will tackle the issues of safety and sanctuary when it comes to Lichfield next month.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: What's On, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:53

A NEW musical from the Red Ladder Company will tackle the issues of safety and sanctuary when it comes to Lichfield next month.

Sanctuary follows the story of young Iranian man, Alland, who begs a northern church to take him in.

But as members of the community react in ways each believes to be right, a young worker joins forces with the vicar to resist both the angry vigilantes and the hard-hearted authorities beyond the church walls in a bid to protect him.

Holding a special service where voices on all sides sing their songs of redemption and condemnation, residents are asked whether they should hand him over to the state or live up to well-versed ideals of compassion.

Directed by Cheryl Martin, Sanctuary will be at The Hub at St Mary’s on 2nd October. She said:

> “Sanctuarycomes at a critical moment in the conversation about immigration, refugees and asylum seekers.  
>  
> “I hope this musical helps open up this conversation because it’s one that goes to the heart of who we are and the kind of society we want to live in.”

Sanctuary’s writers Boff Whalley and Sarah Woods have spent the past six years working in partnership with the Oasis Centre for refugees and asylym seekers to co-create original operas for a more diverse audience.

Sarah said:

> “Boff and I have been collaborating for a number of years, including co-creating work with people seeking refuge and asylum and this is a story that we both feel needed to be told.  
>  
> “A lot of people who come to the UK seeking asylum are here because they’ve stood up against oppression, doing things that many of us might not have the strength to do.  
>  
> “We can learn a lot from them and the stories they share with us.’”

Boff added:

> “Working with refugees and asylum seekers over the past handful of years has been an education – a steep learning-curve in understanding how both Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’ and the non-stop onslaught of some of our media has impacted Britain.”

Tickets are £16 and can be booked at [thehubstmarys.co.uk](http://thehubstmarys.co.uk/?ref=lichfieldlive.co.uk).