A Friendly Society

A play about Brent, for Brent, performed by the people of Brent.

In 1929 the Foresters’ Friendly Society laid the foundations of a building which would be a vibrant community resource for generations to come. Having recently unearthed many original features of the building in our renovation project, we now evoke ghosts of the hall by celebrating the unsung communities who have worked tirelessly to improve the lives of local people as they “walk through the forests of life”.

Engaging over 100 local people, both onstage and backstage, A Friendly Society is the culmination of a two-year project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund that celebrates the history of care and migration in Brent. Working with different community groups to source local stories and record oral histories, this unique production pieces together the history of how we look after each other to ask ‘who will look after us next?’