NEWS & BLOG

No Directions Home is a project for new comics from refugee and migrant backgrounds, featuring workshops, expert tuition and gigs. Earlier this year some of our community members and volunteers saw some of the project’s participants impress on the Soho Theatre stage alongside big headliners like Sara Pascoe and Sophie Duker. We were lucky to have professional comedian and workshop facilitators, Yasmeen Ghrawi and Roann Hassani McCloskey, bring these workshops to our home in West London.

For each workshop we were split into small groups where we discussed topics like objects that we could not live without, personal pet peeves and cultural differences. Every breakaway discussion would be followed by each of us standing up with the mic (aptly named ‘Mikey’) and sharing with the circle. Yasmeen also encouraged people to not feel held back by gaps in their English but to use this to find alternative and humorous ways to tell stories – whether by substituting with a word in their native language or using the power of mime. Yasmeen and Roann’s only condition – don’t try and be funny. While this might seem counterintuitive to the fundamental point of stand-up comedy, Yasmeen’s piece of advice worked to create a warm and supportive space.

We were all initially daunted at the prospect of being the only amplified voice in the room, but it wasn’t long before community members were brought out of their shells and stood up voluntarily to share stories or anecdotes. We laughed at Mohammed confusing the morning with the evening, marvelled at Pari’s account of how she brought her own feminist mark to Kurdish tradition, and were brought to hysterics by Sara’s story of how a language barrier in a hospital appointment led the doctor to charade the action of urinating.

From Nada’s wry observations about how British people cross the road to Mahjoubeh’s shameless obsession with shopping, it was remarkable to see people grow a unique comedic voice in such a short space of time. Also of note was our community members’ ability to make light and take ownership of objectively difficult experiences. Omar spoke about his arrival in the UK and the absurdity of being treated as a prisoner by border guards while antithetically being offered halal food and a prayer mat. Ibrahim also relayed stories of the preposterousness of his teachers’ punishments at high school and found humour in these anecdotes.

The workshops culminated in a stand-up showcase where we swapped the circle out for a more traditional end-on set up. After only four workshops, community members and volunteers got up in front of friends and WLW staff and did a five-minute set. They were all complete naturals; Felicia had the stage presence of someone on their centennial gig and our honorary MC of the evening, Nada waltzed around the stage like she was headlining the Apollo. Tahmina came straight from hosting an event at her church in front of hundreds of people. She said that she had found the confidence to do this after participating in the workshops.

At the end of the No Directions Home programme, everyone was brimming with pride and raring to continue this adventure. This is not the end for our community members’ stand-up journeys, and I envision that one day it will be them standing up on stage at Soho Theatre with the whole WLW community there to support.

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Maddie is a writer, producer and performer. She has been volunteering with West London Welcome in various capacities since 2021.