Event type: Theatre

8pm

They’ve lost the plot, the presents, and maybe even their pants, and nobody can really remember what the hell Christmas is about. Peace on earth? Party hats? Power ballads? Chest hairs? Chestnuts? Who knows?
Join us as your holiday heartthrobs strut, stumble and strip through the falling snow in seasonal disarray in a ridiculous yet fabulously camped-out search for what Christmas is all about.

Run time: 19.30 – 21.00

A girl walks down a blossom-lined street, a knife clutched in her pocket. She’s on her way to confront the man she believes killed her mother… ‘Batman (aka Naomi’s Death Show)’ is a live, choose-your-own-adventure story that also happens to be true. Come along to play ‘Death Bingo’ and ‘Serial Killer Family Fortunes’ and to sit shiva – collectively mourn – for the dead, and to immerse yourself in a world of extreme art. Ultimately you get to decide the direction the performance takes: will you choose mercy or revenge?

This is a true-crime satire, grounded in performer Naomi Westerman’s own experiences of parental death. Join her to work out whether love will save us or condemn us. The performance (60 minutes) will be followed by a panel discussion (30 minutes) exploring how the science of death can help us mourn. Writer and Performer, Noami Westerman will be joined by Kendra Roger (Table 11) and Dr Georgina Robinson (University of Durham) to discuss death, technology and communal grieving.

Please note that this event will involve discussions of death (including animal death), homelessness, and references to child abuse.

 7:30pm
By Sam Freeman

This is a story about passive aggressive letter writing, early morning jet washing and making a house a home. It’s about those who live, laugh and love meters from us, but who really, we barely know at all.

A couple run through the rain to catch a bus.
A man stares at a blank laptop screen in desperation.
A woman opens an envelope to find a photo inside.
A new house on a new street with new neighbours.

A roughly seventy-two minute show, read from a little black book, by a scruffy, bearded, glasses-wearing man in a red check shirt and black jeans who does not own a pressure washer.  A new storytelling show** by Sam Freeman (Every Little Hope You Ever Dreamed, Every Time I Close My Eyes).

**This show has minimal references to dogs.

A Unity Theatre Fundraising Event: All of the money from this event will go to supporting the work of Unity Theatre.

7:30PM
“The Invaders’ Fear of Memories” is a theatre piece based on the life and diaries of Yosef Nachmani – a Russian Jew who migrated from Tsarist Russia to Ottoman Palestine in 1907. Nachmani became Director of the Jewish National Fund in the Galilee and subsequently played a central role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine’s indigenous people. The play offers a perspective into the origins of settler-colonialism and apartheid in modern-day Israel, exploring themes of loyalty, violence, ideology, and grief.

The Invaders’ Fear of Memories is performed by Benjamin Rivers, the great grandson of Nachmani. Over the course of the play, Rivers performs 12 characters and sings in Arabic, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Yiddish.

The production is directed by Linda Wise, an original member of the iconic Roy Hart Theatre Company.

Since August 2023, The Invaders’ Fear of Memories has been performed to audiences across four continents.

 Audience reviews:

“The Invaders’ Fear of Memories” is a jaw-dropping tour de force through history that has never been more relevant. Ben Rivers deftly slips between characters to create a collage of voice and song that is both powerful and rich with devastating truth and subtly observed nuance.

Emily Conolan, Author and refugee advocate, Australia.

“The Invaders’ Fear of Memories,” a one-man play by Ben Rivers, is both an urgently needed piece of history and an extraordinary work of art. Rivers, portraying twelve characters, brings to life his own great-grandfather’s story, first as an oppressed Jew in Tsarist Russia and then his inexorable transformation into an active participant in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland.  With gorgeous, stirring songs in Ukrainian, Yiddish, Hebrew and Arabic woven throughout, “The Invaders’ Fear of Memories” confronts us with the tragic cycles of history in which we are still caught. It could not be more relevant in today’s violent world.

Jo Salas, Author and co-founder of Playback Theatre, New York.

List of team and cast

Written and performed by Benjamin Rivers

Directed by Linda Wise