Malaysia Projects

In 2017, Bond Street Theatre initiated a project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia working with refugee and migrant populations. 

More than 150,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. Many have fled active conflicts in Myanmar, where Bond Street has been working since 2009, while others have traveled from Afghanistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iraq and Syria.

Malaysia is not a signatory of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, leaving the country's refugee population extremely vulnerable, without legal protections, and struggling to survive.

Partnering with Asylum Access Malaysia, Masakini Theatre, the Rohingya Women's Development Network, and a Somali Community Coalition, BST worked to use theatre as a creative mouthpiece for rights-based information. Varying literacy rates among refugee groups mean that theatre is an ideal way to both transmit information and create a forum for dialogue.

The project not only reached hundreds of refugees from a variety of countries, but the joint trainings conducted by Bond Street and Masakini Theatre resulted in the creation of two brand new refugee-led theatre troupes.

In 2018, Bond Street Theatre artist-educators returned to Kuala Lumpur to continue this training and collaboration.

Project Donors