with bread (Salford)

We are the people with whom we eat.

Companion, noun.

From the Latin com-, together with & panis, bread

‘with bread’ is a performance where the History of bread meets personal histories of migration. Over the course of the performance, audience members take part in making flatbreads which are served, along with a seasonal stew, at the end of the show. The story told in with bread traces the journey of this staple and heavily symbolic food from prehistory to Brexit Britain, via biblical times and the Arab Spring.

with bread is in turn a poetic history lesson, an opportunity to hear voices from the margins, and a baking class. with bread is an attempt to explore what it means to share a culture, to make community and to belong in an everchanging and globalised world.

In the context of Brexit and heated debates around identity politics, with bread brings people together in a joyous celebration of diversity and difference. The piece is performed with a different cast of migrant locals everywhere it takes place.