Local activists in North East London saw the opportunity to take part in the borough’s Walthamstow Arts cultural event, and remind the community how to come together to fight for justice and peace. On a zero budget, they managed to stage several performances of the short single-hander play, Burgers & Chips, at the Orford Road Community Hall.
The play, written by Zia Ahmed, was originally performed at the Arcola Theatre in 2024, before transferring, as part of a series of 12 short plays (Cutting The Tightrope) selling out the main 600-seater theatre at the Edinburgh International Festival in the summer of 2025.
It tells the story of communities coming together to counter the race riots of August 2024, which were sparked by Islamophobic disinformation shared on social media after the horrific stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in Southport.
The play’s title stems from a heart-warming moment in Liverpool when local people gathered to counter right-wingers targeting an asylum charity office there, and an Imam appeared with a large food delivery bag filled with burgers and chips, offering the food out to the crowd and thanking them for turning out.
In Walthamstow on the 7th August, despite MP Stella Creasey asking people to stay away, an estimated 10,000 counter-protesters took to the streets to prevent a planned right-wing protest at an immigration centre there.
Theatre director Cress Brown, who was one of the organisers of the performance, told Real Media how the idea was to remind the Walthamstow community not only of how they came together at that time, but how every little act of resistance can help spread the message that we are not alone when fighting racism and repression.
A Palestine flag here, a small boycott picket there, even a sign in a window – passing moments in everyday life – can all help remind us that community is alive and we can stand up against racism. These moments are essential when we continually face highly organised divisive messaging, and a repressive government complicit in ongoing genocide.
Unlike in Edinburgh, the performance was rehearsed between childcare, work, tube strikes and school strikes, with a pair of stage lights and no sound and they managed to get into the space just 30 minutes before the first show, but a great script and a powerful performance made a strong impression on the diverse audience.
It was followed by a short speech by a representative from the local anti-raids group WARN – explaining their work and how people can get involved. Watch our interview and find out more here.
