Fuel presents Borders & Crossings by Inua Ellams at Under The Radar Festival 2021

Born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother against a backdrop of sectarian violence, Inua Ellams left Nigeria for England in 1996 aged 12, moved to Ireland for three years, before returning to London. An award-winning poet, performer, playwright, graphic artist, and designer, Inua returned to the theme of migration in his work, exploring his own life experiences and wider global and political questions. Borders & Crossings was an opportunity to get to know Inua and hear some of his poetic and dramatic work on this theme, live and online from London.

Inua Ellams started performing in cafes in 2003 and has since worked in venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and Glastonbury Music Festival. He is the recipient of an Edinburgh Fringe First Artist Award for his autobiographical winning play The 14th Tale. He has also undertaken several commissions, including those for Louis Vuitton and Soho Theatre. Following two sell-out runs at the National Theatre and a world tour, his play Barber Shop Chronicles (A Fuel, National Theatre, and Leeds Playhouse co-production) also ran at the Roundhouse in 2019. His adaptation of Three Sisters was co-produced by the National Theatre and Fuel in 2019-2020.

To kick off 2021 we were very excited to showcase Borders & Crossings as part of Under The Radar, the NYC based Public Theater’s annual festival celebrating new theatre and performance.

For the first time in its history, the festival took place online and for free from 6-17 January. For more information about the festival, click here.

The performances of Borders & Crossings were supported by Arts Council England, working in partnership with Manchester International Festival to support England based artists to appear at Under the Radar.

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