Troy Townsend to host discussion at LIFT Festival

Tuesday 24 Jun 2014
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Troy Townsend, Kick It Out’s Mentoring and Leadership Project Manager, will be hosting a post-show discussion after ‘Michael Essien, I want to play as you’, a performance sitting between dance and theatre which focuses on human trafficking in football, this Wednesday (25 June) evening.

The lure of success in European leagues has drawn many into believing in football as a way out of poverty — and created an underclass of football-aspirants in foreign lands. Ahilan Ratnamohan, the director of ‘Michael Essien, I want to play as you’, and a group of African migrant footballers have devised the piece using their shared language of football.

The performance will explore the hidden stories of the game we all think we know, and Troy, as host, will ask Ahilan about the production, and invite questions from the audience on the issue of talented players being illegally shipped from Africa to Europe.

LIFT, an organisation which travels the world to bring global stories to London, present unique experiences and share the stories of the world with the culturally curious, have brought ‘Michael Essien, I want to play as you’ to the capital city as they look to transform it into a stage for live performances.

Troy is excited to be involved with the project which is being performed at Stratford Circus in Stratford in east London on 24 June before closing a day later on 25 June. “This piece will examine the relationship between African football and Europe,” he said. “The discussion afterwards will be lively and I’m pleased to be asked to host a debate on such an emotive subject.”

 

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