October 25th 2026 Dubrek Studios       Derby 2:30pm

Radical Joy:

Anansi at 5

What does radical joy mean to you?

To celebrate Anansi Theatre Company turning five, we commissioned three artists, Yvonne, Noor and Panya to explore this question through their own creative practice. After months of development, Radical Joy at 5 brings their new work together for a day celebrating art, creativity and community.

The festival will also feature the highly reviewed Othello’s Sister, starring Anansi Artistic Director Lauren Nicole Whitter, music and an industry panel discussion.

Come along to experience something new, connect with others and celebrate five years of Anansi. Book your free ticket, with the option to donate, to secure your spot.

Radical Joy: Anansi at 5 is supported using public funding by Arts Council England, The National Lottery and Project Tallawah.

The Line up - view below

We're honoured to open Radical Joy with a special performance by the Derby West Indian Community Association (DWICA), celebrating their voices, stories and community ahead of our commissioned artists.

DWICA

2:30pm

doors open

Commissioned artists

DJ/ mUSIC BREAK

OTHELLO'S sister

Connections

PANEL TALK

Location:

Dubrek Studios

67 Bridge Street
Derby, DE1 3LB

The Line up - The Commissoned Artists

Yvonne Feresu

A Zimbabwean poet, writer and screenwriter based in Nottingham, whose work meets identity, womanhood, love, loss and mental health with honesty, while still making room for humour, hope and joy. She wrote the feature film A Quiet Intruder and script-edited the Zambian drama Mpali, and is now working on her first novel. Radical Joy is her very first commission.

Poet and screenwriter

Noor Sobka

Noor Sobka is a Libyan comedy writer and performer from the Midlands, centring MENA and Global Majority voices. She is co-creator of Sketchy Muslims, the UK's first Muslim women-led sketch comedy show, with credits spanning the BBC's Odd Squad, Soho Theatre and the BFI-funded short Mourning Period.

Comedy writer and performer

Dr Panya Banjoko is an award-winning poet, filmmaker and founding director of Nottingham Black Archive, and a patron of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature. Her work sits where the personal meets the historical, exploring absence: what is omitted, erased or rewritten. Her collections Some Things and (Re)Framing the Archive are published by Burning Eye Books, and she is developing a distinct strand of Docupoetry, blending poetry with archival artefacts.

Poet and multidisciplinary artist

Dr Panya Banjoko

Othello's Sister

What if Othello had a sister? What stories would she tell? Othello's Sister is Anansi's moving production exploring legacy, identity and the search for belonging. Using the lens of Shakespeare's Othello, Artistic Director Lauren Nicole Whitter traces her own Jamaican heritage and the histories of post-WWII migration, through the eyes of Othello's fictional sister. Blending live music, movement and testimony, and developed with Global Majority women and Windrush elders, it asks who gets to hold history, and who gets to tell it.