Hungry Nation

Strike a Light and Coventry City of Culture

How do we move forward together in a hungry world?

Hungry Nation was a creative collaboration with 8 people who wanted to get their experiences of food poverty heard by a wider audience.

Faiza, Roxie, Simon, Nick, Tony, Bradley, Tom and Roy took to the stage alongside two professional actors and an MD with a new piece of theatre in their home town of Coventry as part of its City of Culture year – to express what it feels like not knowing where your next meal will come from. They became involved in the project through their association with Foleshill Community Centre: a social supermarket, a community centre and a space that holds a lifeline for many in the community. At the start of 2022, the group of 8 decided they wanted to work together and co-create a performance with music, their own accounts of food poverty. This culminated in sold out performances at The Albany Theatre, Coventry.

The incredible team included Sarah Blowers (Strike A Light), Jo Newman (Director), Caroline Horton (writer) Joe Price (Lighting Design), Tom Johnson (Composer and MD), Tom Simkins (Sound Designer)and Naomi Said (Movement Director). We worked with local policy makers, including Zarah Sultana MP, experts from Coventry University and the Central England Law School, and legislative theatre maker Katy Rubin.

Read more about the project here.

The smiling cast of Hungry Nation gather on stage behind three wooden planters, with a blue-lit backdrop.
An older man with long grey dreadlocks points in the distance. A crowd of fellow performers watch on from behind.
Two men stand upstage, one strumming a guitar and the other plucking a violin. The guitarist is a young man, wearing a navy boiler suit with a yellow top. The violinist is a middle-aged man, wearing a blue shirt tucked into black jeans. Yellow hangin
Some of the performers stand outside Foleshill Community Centre, stood casually talking to one another. There are Autumn leaves across the ground and on an overhanging tree. In the bottom left is the title "Hungry Nation" and a subtitle that reads "H

This project was beautiful. Working with everyone at Foleshill Community Centre was a joy and it felt so powerful to be welcomed as part of such an inspiring community of people. I loved watching how people decided to present their stories on stage within the show - from origami to blues/protest singing!