Where Do We Go From Here? — Audio Trail

Thinking, writing, speaking, listening, moving, listening again, sharing, believing, laughing, crying, crossing out, rewriting… bringing to life.

What a joy it’s been to work with a group of people from so many backgrounds, whose own languages fill the air with their own music. Working with a group is very much about creating a space which allows everyone to be themselves, to express something where maybe the opportunity hasn’t happened for them before. It’s exhilarating, and very moving to help people shape their stories and help to nudge their imaginations into new paths.  This is no ordinary Audio Trail, but an invitation, beautifully crafted, to step into the shoes of others and listen to these amazing voices as they explore the lives of some of the fascinating objects so close to us in Reading’s museums.

Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3 presenter, writer, and curator.

Rank & File is a Theatre of Sanctuary founded in 2019 in Reading which grew out of a great love for people. We hope you enjoy the audio trail!
Jude Haste
Artistic Director

Locations of objects in the audio trail are marked in red.

My name is Anna, and I am an actress from Ukraine. The ornament on the biscuit box struck me with its lightness, as if it divided the world into “before” and “after”. I wanted to open the lid of the box and plunge into the world and live a summer day through the eyes of a little girl who does not yet know the face of war. The world shouts to us – “be sincere!” and we are sincere standing alone in the field, shouting into the horn “Where is your courage?” People, we have long been the petals torn off the daisy.

I chose this teapot as it made me think of my life in Reading. I live in a house which overlooks a monastery and a psychiatric hospital. I see these buildings every morning, and I find myself thinking about the psychiatric hospital when I read the news about the long arms of corrupt officials, or seclusion in a monastery where everything is clear and fair. And, most importantly, I pray to God. Looking at this teapot, I imagined giving my years and youth to acts of service within a monastery. However, an inner rebel is inside of me, who, like boiling water in a kettle, demands to break out and run its course. To shake free of the grip of reality and run in my own direction again.

My name is Caleb, I am an actor with Rank & File and a war veteran from Zimbabwe. I chose the earthenware bottle because it reminds me of my late grandmother. She used to make her own snuff. When she was making her own snuff in the hothouse, you would be sneezing. She was the only one that used to make the snuff. That is why straight away, when I saw that bottle, it reminded me of my grandmother. As a small boy I would be at family gatherings when they used to use the snuff, put it on a wooden plate, and use it to talk to our late grandfather, who had passed away, and ask for his help.

My name is Candy, I am a blind actor with Rank & File. When this artefact was described to me, I immediately asked if I could touch it. It gave me a visceral feeling, transporting my memory back to being a child on my dad’s farm. I remember the Polish refugees in the village, one of whom would become my godmother. The refugees and I would ride on the back of the cart, splintering wooden boards twisting and creaking, unforgiving bumps, and knocks, being thrown about like a sack of potatoes, cartwheels with a rim of iron so every stone on the farm road could be felt. With the wheels of time passing, I’m amazed how this one object could align my past to the present. Who would have thought I’d be treading the boards of a different kind of stage with refugees now?

Hi my name is Daria and I came to Reading from Crimea under humanitarian protection. My artefact is a pair of boots that were walked from Edinburgh to Surrey. In my story, I wanted to explore the relationship between a human and their shoes. Are they a piece of wardrobe like jeans, or coats? Are they a means of transport? Are they a hard drive that stores data about all movements? I never thought about that before I started writing, but my shoes have documented all the severe changes that happened to me over the last two years, leaving home for Erasmus, the first experiences of travelling around Europe, the war in Ukraine, moving to the UK. Look at your shoes, maybe they store memories you have already forgotten.

Hi, my name is Hannah, the Shell logo caught my attention. As a child, I pointed it out with a sense of pride in a world of things I couldn’t recognise, “That’s where you fill up your car, mum!”. Knowing what we know now, of the lies, deceit, and climate denialism, I couldn’t help but feel repulsed as it hung, heralded, and preserved behind the glass, a celebrated pillar of society. Meanwhile, the government awards them £12m in tax breaks, the equivalent of paying the salaries of over 300,000 nurses.

Right now, the UK Government is being taken to court over its decision to approve Rosebank, the largest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea. The science is clear; there can be no new fossil fuels if we are to have any chance of a habitable future. We have renewable technologies and can retain the most jobs for oil and gas workers if the government invests now. If you want to be a part of this future, I urge you to speak out, as social change is only ever driven by people. The logo of Shell hangs not as a dictator of our times, but a relic that signifies how far we’ve come. 

I began writing about the comfort a cooking pot could bring someone on a cold Winter’s night, as they think about the warmth that awaits them walking home. As I did this, the word “Windrush” came to mind, and brought with it a whole new dimension to the piece. Recently, I have been reading The Windrush Betrayal by Amelia Gentleman, and the Hostile Environment that continues to pervade the Home Office, Westminster, and society. We live in times where numbers and political gain are valued more than the life of a human being. As someone who has never faced the threat of deportation, I cannot do these stories justice. Yet I also feel a necessity to share and not let them slip under the carpet. If only to act as a reminder of why we must continue to advocate for system change, I felt it might be worth sharing this piece of writing.

Hi, I’m Yevhenia, I am a Ukrainian actor, mother, and a temporary seeker of sanctuary in England. I chose to write about this old iron cooking pot because it is a timeless artefact which relates to all years, all centuries, and all families. The fact that I haven’t seen my family for two years now, makes me remember old times with fondness, cooking in a pot such as this in the mountains in Ukraine. In Reading I sometimes cook dishes according to my family’s recipes, like Ukrainian national borscht, a hot dish to be eaten at lunch time. Food is necessary for the life of the body, and when we cook together and treat our friends, it will be remembered for a lifetime. Taste, company, love. Valuable moments of memory and life.

My name is Kasia, and I am a neurodivergent artist born in Communist Poland under Soviet oppression. I wrote about the old fashioned sewing machine as it evoked an enormous flow of memories from my childhood. This spectacular artefact extorted a forgotten past, which was rather painful and difficult, yet precious. I saw my mum sitting at the kitchen table every night after work as she was making these incredible items of clothing for family, friends, and neighbours. It was her passion and hobby. She was committed to supporting anyone she could whilst Soviet rule deprived everyone of dignity and the basics to live on. It was her compassion that created a bit more beauty and colour in peoples’ lives. The patter of the machine was always present in the block of flats we lived in, and people kept coming back to collect brand new and unique clothes.

My name is Thabo, and I am an actor, human rights activist, and campaigner. I chose to write about a plough as it made me think of Zimbabwe, where I’m originally from. The first thing you would notice if flying over that country in the 1990’s and early 2000’s was the vast amounts of land being used for farming. It was known as the Breadbasket of Africa. Sadly, it is now the Basket Case of Africa due to corruption, kleptocracy, greed and the lack of human rights.

Continue your journey through the Where Do We Go From Here? audio trail at Reading Museum.