HAMMERSMITH residents joined a cast of 500 for a hugely ambitious open-air production this week.
Babel saw amateur actors from Hammersmith, Battersea, Islington, Southwark and Stratford team up with professionals to tell the biblical story about the origin of languages.
The play opened in Islington’s Caledonian Park on Tuesday, where it will run until Sunday, May 20.
It was produced by Wildworks, the same team behind The Passion in Port Talbot, starring Michael Sheen, which featured a similarly huge cast.
Hammersmith’s Lyric Theatre was one of four theatres to team up for the project, alongside Battersea Arts Centre, the Young Vic and Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Bill Mitchell directs Nigel Barrett, who played John the Baptist in The Passion in Port Talbot, Syrian performer Ammar Haj Ahmed and regulars from the critically-acclaimed theatre troupe Kneehigh among his cast of hundreds.
The show is the centrepiece of World Stages London, a one-month festival celebrating the capital’s diversity. It has been developed over the past two years, with members of the public encouraged to play their part at events across London, including Hammersmith.
Babel tells the mythical story of the building of a great tower intended to reach the heavens, which so angered God that he scattered those involved upon the face of the earth and caused them to speak in tongues.
Caledonian Park was chosen as the site of the show because of its famous clock tower and its interesting history.
It has seen various uses over the years, from being the site of a 17th century hostelry to a bull-baiting venue and an abattoir.
Trade unionists also gathered there in 1834 to demand the release of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, more than a century before it was finally turned into a housing estate and park in 1969.
The story was deliberately chosen to coincide with the Olympic summer when, as the publicity material puts it, ‘the eyes of the world are on London and, once again, the people are gathering and the Tower is calling them back’.
“Babel is a fable about the things that matter, the things that bind us together and keep us apart,” says director Bill Mitchell. “It's about the incredible things we can do together, the power of memory and our common humanity.”
The show features state-of-the-art projections in a unique theatre with a capacity of more than 1,000.
Babel is playing at Caledonian Park, in Market Road, Islington, until May 20. Tickets, priced £22.50-£25, are available at www.babellondon.com or from the box office on 020 7223 2223.
