The Great Experiment

‘I didn’t know that when slavery was abolished in 1833, it was the slave owners that were compensated. The biggest bailout until 2009’s bank bailout.

I didn’t know that Britain’s wealth had so much to do with empire and exploitation.

I didn’t know that Britain had never made an apology.

I didn’t know’

Exposing the little-known history of the Indian migrant labourers indentured to work on plantations around the world following the Abolition of Slavery, the award-winning Border Crossings brings The Great Experiment to audiences across London.

This new work recounts the moment in history when more than two million Indians were indentured to replace slave labour in Mauritius, Malaysia, the Caribbean and mainland Africa as part of The Great Experiment. Carefully devised by performers from various backgrounds in a process led by those of Mauritian heritage, The Great Experiment, directed by Michael Walling, tells two parallel stories – that of the labourers and that of the actors themselves grappling with their own relationships to this difficult history and its enduring effects that are still felt today.

As the conversation surrounding migration becomes increasingly vehement and divisive, The Great Experiment galvanises an urgent intercultural dialogue that both illuminates our hidden history and interrogates who has the right and the responsibility to retell it. Having worked with expert historians and the communities descended from the indentured workers, the production also makes use of multimedia and archive footage that the audience are encouraged to explore and interact with before each performance. Generously supported by Arts Council England, Heritage Fund, London Community Foundation and Cockayne Foundation, it will be staged in both theatres and museums across London alongside an exciting programme of workshops, talks and museum collection days.