Participation – Daedalus Theatre Company

Artist Spotlight: The Black Smock Band

By DaedalusAdmin on Thursday, April 2, 2026

Photo of Paul Burgess, Dan Cox and Andy Bannister (left to right) by Tasnim Siddiqa Amin at a rehearsal in Deptford, 2026

Daedalus Theatre Company and the Black Smock Band have worked together on many projects. You may recognise our director, Paul Burgess, as one of the members of the band! After years of collaborations, we think it’s time to spotlight the band in their own right. Grab a cuppa and settle in because it’s a read as heart-warming as the band’s music, which incidentally, you can hear live – and sing along with – on Wednesday 22nd April 2026 at Camden People’s Theatre. Book your tickets for QUEER REVOLUTIONARY SINGALONG now:

Book here

Tell us about yourself and your creative practice.

Andy Bannister: In addition to being a musician, I’m a visual artist and a tutor working in higher education. I teach on a fine art course where I mainly work with students who focus on sculpture and combined media- this reflects what I do when I’m in my studio. In my current work, I’m exploring the impact of science and technology on culture and society, with a focus on the widespread civil opposition to the nuclear arms race during the Cold War period. There’s a crossover here with my activities as a musician, in terms of my interest in the role of folk music within protest movements and the emphasis on stories of resistance within the folk tradition.

Associate Artists Events Participation

New Creative Nature Workshop for Young People (16-25) in Romford

By DaedalusAdmin on Monday, March 23, 2026

Our work continues in Havering with Kaleidoscope, a grassroots organisation that has been working with young LGBTQ+ people in Romford since 2022.

Date: Tuesday 7th April 2026
Time: 5PM-7PM
Location: Lumiere Romford, RM1 3EE
Age: 16-25

Book now

Often queer people have been called unnatural, but nature is filled with wonder and ambiguity. Take the most apparently basic animal, the fruit fly; researchers have found that fruit flies have metafemale, metamales and intersex gender identities, and bisexuality. One species of fungus has 23,000 genders. Gay penguins have been well documented in zoos and the wild. Starfish are asexual.

Artist Spotlight Events Participation

Artist Spotlight: Marshall Savage

By DaedalusAdmin on Thursday, November 13, 2025

Photo of Marshall Savage at Kobi Nazrul Centre (2025)

Marshall Savage, also known as Mijan, is a Bangladeshi-British queer person from Bow. Marshall is passionate about LGBTQ+ rights and welfare not warfare. Marshall doesn’t come from a creative or academic background, but he loves learning new skills and embracing new experiences wherever they lead him. He is the newest member of our East Storytelling Project.

After a late evening of rehearsals for our latest East production EAST TO ELSEWHERE, local trade unionist Marshall and assistant producer Tasnim sat at Chaiwalla on Brick Lane with a coffee and roti to talk about the East End, activism and the importance of sharing stories of migrant women.

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Marshall, I’m born and raised in Tower Hamlets, in Bow specifically. I work for Tower Hamlets and I’m also a Trade unionist. I’m very heavily involved in activism, especially local activism and organising against the far right

Events Participation

Call for Emerging Bengali Storytellers: East to Elsewhere on the theme of KINDNESS

By DaedalusAdmin on Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Photo by Rehan Jamil

Do you have a story to tell about kindness? We’re looking for Bengali storytellers from Tower Hamlets. If you have a story about acts of kindness, migration or how Tower Hamlets has shaped your life, we want to hear from you! This callout is for people with little or no professional experience in storytelling.

About the Project: We’re thrilled to announce East to Elsewhere, a new storytelling event celebrating the theme of Kindness from the EAST Project. This project will explore the rich history and diverse cultures of Tower Hamlets through stories of migration, community support, and kindness—especially stories of kindness shown by migrant communities to newcomers such as refugees and asylum seekers.

The kind of thing that we are looking for:

Major Projects Participation The Company

The East Storytelling Project returns to A Season of Bangla Drama 2025 with East to Elsewhere

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Photo collage featuring Shamim Azad, Farah Naz, Sef Townsend, Michele Chowrimootoo, Paul Burgess, Tasnim Siddiqa Amin (left to right)

We’re delighted to announce that Daedalus Theatre Company will be part of the 22nd year of A Season of Bangla Drama, with the latest iteration of our East Storytelling Project: East to Elsewhere. Our performance at the annual festival, at 7:30pm on 14th November 2025 in Tower Hamlets, marks a turning point. Our last performance at Season of Bangla Drama celebrated a decade of the project. This year’s show marks the beginning of an exciting new phase.

BOOK TICKETS HERE

Following a period of planning, dreaming and discussion with members of our storytelling community, we’re widening the project’s reach. Having recently taken Mobile Incitement to Exeter and run one of our Creative Nature workshops in Sheffield, our performance at A Season of Bangla Drama pilots the format we hope to use to, well, as the title says, take East elsewhere.

Events Major Projects Participation Partners and Collaborators

Announcing New Daedalus Production and New Partnership at Exciting Queer Festival in South London!

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, April 16, 2025

After two R&D phases and more than two years in development, we’re finally ready to share Dysbiosis, our latest theatre project — and we’re doing it as part of the 96 Festival on its tenth anniversary.

We’re thrilled to bring this work-in-progress performance and exhibition to Omnibus Theatre in Clapham, South London, marking an exciting moment for Daedalus as we step outside our usual East London base to join this landmark festival in a vibrant new context.

About the Show:

Dysbiosis is a queer-led, multimedia performance that unearths the tangled connections between queerness, place, nature and environmental justice. Developed through collaboration with working class, global majority and LGBTQ+ Londoners, it weaves together original music, spoken word, performance and visual storytelling to explore how we live in and with the natural world.

Major Projects Participation

Dysbiosis: Nature, Creativity and Community

By DaedalusAdmin on Monday, March 17, 2025

DYSBIOSIS is a creative wellbeing programme designed to improve mental health, reduce loneliness, and support underrepresented communities in London. Through multi-artform public workshops, a one-day conference and a touring exhibition, the programme fosters social connection, builds confidence and promotes sustainable, creative practices.

We have most of the funding, but our Arts Council grant is conditional on our raising some of the funding ourselves. You can help us achieve this, by donating and by spreading the word; we’d be very grateful!

Donate to the crowdfunder here

Events Participation Partners and Collaborators

Call for Storytellers: Tales of Tower Hamlets on the theme of KINDNESS

By DaedalusAdmin on Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Do you have a story to tell about kindness in Tower Hamlets? We’re looking for storytellers with Caribbean, Somali, or/and West African heritage. If you have a story about acts of kindness, migration, or how Tower Hamlets has shaped your life, we want to hear from you!

About the Project: We’re thrilled to announce Tales of Tower Hamlets, a new storytelling event celebrating the theme of Kindness from the EAST Project. This project will explore the rich history and diverse cultures of Tower Hamlets through stories of migration, community support, and kindness—especially stories of kindness shown by migrant communities to newcomers such as refugees and asylum seekers.

What We’re Looking For:

Stories about acts of kindness within migrant communities in Tower Hamlets.
Experiences of newcomers, especially refugees and asylum seekers.
Historical migration stories linked to East London.
Contemporary stories about migration today.
Personal stories—if you feel like sharing!
Stories that reflect the awesome diversity of East London and Tower Hamlets.

Eligibility:

Major Projects Participation

Dysbiosis Creative Nature Workshop

By DaedalusAdmin on Monday, October 21, 2024

Come along to a relaxed, creative workshop exploring our relationship with nature, part of A Season of Bangla Drama 2024. The theme for this year’s festival is hope. Nature has long been a source of endless inspiration for creativity. It inspires a lot of emotions and brings hope to many of us; something we look forward to exploring in this iteration of DYSBIOSIS.

Discover unknown pockets of nature within Tower Hamlets’ cityscape. This can unlock stories old and new about our multifaceted relationship with nature. Hosted at Mile End Park’s Ecology Pavilion, this workshop offers a chance to explore your creativity. Interdisciplinary artists Paul Burgess and Tasnim Siddiqa Amin will guide the session. There will also be a discussion around how local issues such as air pollution connect with global challenges like climate change. You’ll create a personal artistic response and collaborate on a group piece. A light lunch is included.

Join us to be guided through a creative process that explores your own responses to the themes. No experience necessary!

We are a cross-disciplinary, queer-led theatre company that explores big ideas. We manage intergenerational, cross-cultural projects and activities in Tower Hamlets and beyond. This workshop is part of the larger Dysbiosis project exploring our social and personal relationships with nature and has mainly been developed with the support of Queens Theatre Hornchurch and the Havering Changing.

Events Participation

Dysbiosis: Creative Nature Exhibition

By DaedalusAdmin on Sunday, June 30, 2024

“Such beautiful conversations, and lasting connections made” – Exhibition Launch Attendee

Last month we launched the DYSBIOSIS: CREATIVE NATURE EXHIBITION in Rainham. Over four workshops, Rainham and Wennington locals of all ages came together to observe the nature around us and express their thoughts creatively and together. A selection of these artworks are now available to view as you ascend the stairs at the Royals Youth Centre.

Here is an extract of a poem written by Wennington resident and Change Maker Laurence: