IT WAS SPAIN. 1492. BUT IT COULDN’T HAPPEN HERE, OR NOW – COULD IT?

BAFTA-nominated Nicholas Renton directs Into the Melting Pot which stars leading actor of stage and screen Suzanne Ahmet and critically acclaimed music and theatre company The Telling. The half concert/half play tells the story of a Jewish woman caught up in the conflict of 1492 and channels the stories of others. It will tour England and Wales from 17th to 24th May, stopping at St Mary’s Church in Conwy on Friday 19th May at 7.30pm – 9.15pm.

Into the Melting Pot is written by The Telling’s artistic director, playwright and soprano, Clare Norburn.

“Into the Melting Pot may be set in the past, but it’s extraordinarily relevant to contemporary issues right now,” she explains. “Somehow by looking through the camera of the past, I hope we might be able to see the present more clearly. The story of a Jewish woman forced to leave her home in 1492 is startlingly contemporary; it is has echoes in issues people face right now: the rise of Anti-Semitism, how members of the Windrush generation have been treated and refugees fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan. My character Blanca cries: ‘This is our home! My family, my roots in Seville go back hundreds of years. Just where do they think they are sending us back to?’”

Into the Melting Pot follows Blanca, a Jewish woman facing expulsion from Spain and setting sail for an uncertain future as ordered by the Spanish Catholic Monarchs in 1492. At twilight on her final night in Seville, Blanca tunes into voices of a community of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women from across the Spanish peninsula. Her story echoes down the ages to the personal stories of people affected by politics and war today. Down the centuries, women’s stories of integration, love, the rich cultural heritage of the Spanish peninsula and racial intolerance are played out to a soundtrack of plaintive Sephardic Jewish songs and lively medieval music, with full staging and stunning lighting. n