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Jay Bernard: Joint

FuelFest

— ,The Pit
A person moves through a dark space, they are lit by a red light so that you can't see them as much as just a red figure moving through the space.

Weaving together personal experience, social history and real-life cases, Joint is a powerful, multi-media account of Joint Enterprise law by one of Britain's most exciting poets.

“I didn’t know that by sitting in the kitchen I’d be hunted down, arrested, convicted, on the same charges as him. And you’d be too.”

Joint Enterprise is a controversial common law doctrine which has seen people convicted of participating in a crime, where their presence alone is participation.  
 

Increasingly challenged, it is part of a history of collective punishment that systematically targets racialised and working-class people that can be traced from colonialism through to today. But how does it work? And how can it be defeated?

Jay Bernard is a writer and artist whose works include Surge, The Red and Yellow Nothing and English Breakfast. They are the winner of the Ted Hughes Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer Award.

Tagged with: Theatre & dance FuelFest 2025 Theatre and Dance Winter/Spring 2025 More...

 

This is a work-in-progress performance as part of FuelFest, celebrating 20 years of fresh work for adventurous people by inspiring artists.

This performance contains live-feed cameras that will capture the audience. For more information please speak to a member of Barbican staff. 
 

Running time: Approximately 60-70 minutes, no interval

Age guidance: 12+

This event contains representations of racism and violence.

Post-show talk
Tue 18 Mar, following the 7.45pm performance. Free to same-day ticket holders.

Accessibility
If you're a wheelchair user, please contact our box office on 020 7101 1188 (Mon-Sun 10am - 5:30pm) to book a ticket at a Pay What You Can price. 

Tue 18 Mar: Captioned performance
Captioned by Jeanie Barnsley. Find out more about Accessible Events at the Barbican.

 

The Fuel Behind the Fest: unpacking Joint Enterprise, in conversation with Jay Bernard, Nisha Waller and Becky Clarke
Tues 18 Mar, following the 7.45pm show
Investigate the debate surrounding joint enterprise law and the real-world advocacy that sparked this theatre piece. Featuring Becky Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Nisha Waller, academic researcher and Racial Justice Lead at APPEAL, a legal charity dedicated to fighting wrongful convictions and advocating for change in the criminal legal system.

Commissioned and produced by Fuel and funded by Arts Council England.
 

Directed by Jo Tyabji.

Commissioned and produced by Fuel. Supported by Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking.

Presented by the Barbican. 

Supported by the Arts Council England.

Discover more about Fuel on their website fueltheatre.com and across socials on @fueltheatre. 

Cast & Creative Team

Jay Bernard Writer
Jo Tyabji Director
Anna Clock Composer & Sound Designer
Coral Messam Choreographer
Yemarai Varaya Associate Choreographer
Heather Pasfield AV Designer
Marty Langthorne Lighting Designer
Moses Ssebandeke Camera Operator
Shankho Chaudhuri Design Consultant
Coral Messam Movement Director
Yemarai Varaya Associate Movement Director
Stella Kailides Stage Manager

Reviews

‘The collection’s major achievement is its unfailing attentiveness to the framing of history through the stories of individuals and collectives that the poet holds, urgently, ethically & so skilfullly‘
The Guardian on Jay Bernard's Surge

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