Brent’s year as London’s borough of culture will kick off with an outdoor event in Wembley – RISE – on January 18, 2020.
The “outdoor spectacle” will tell the story of Brent through a family-friendly outdoor show, with a local community cast of hundreds, involving dance, theatre and projections, set to an incredible soundtrack, against the backdrop of Wembley Stadium.
Brent is the home of Rachel Yankey, Riz Ahmed, Zadie Smith; the home of the Grunwick strikers, of reggae and rebellion, great roads, legendary family businesses, famous Irish pubs, trailblazing young poets, Metroland architects and the builders of the biggest Hindu Temple outside India. Like Brent they did, and do, things in their own way.
RISE will tell the story of how this corner of the capital – in its activism, writing and athleticism – travelled from the margins to change British culture. Above all it will be a tale of how, for generations, people of different countries, faiths and backgrounds came to Brent to grow and make a future together.
The performance is a Southpaw Dance Company Production commissioned by Metroland Culture.
