Swallows and Armenians is a fascinating story of friendship and family, love and jealousy, with a good measure of sailing thrown in. The book by artist and author Karen Babayan was brought to life in July 2022 and the actor-musician production was performed in the heart of Cumbria as part of the Cumbria Opera Group's inaugural Weekend of Opera. This production was performed by a multicultural cast whose own diverse backgrounds and family migration stories mirrored that of the Altounyan children. We now wish to take a full-length production of the show further afield to tour theatres in the UK in 2025. This project reappraises a children’s classic, uncovering and celebrating the ethnic richness of British culture. Cover photo by Asadour Guzelian.

Background:

Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons is a classic book about children having adventures on a lake. The Walker family have always been depicted as quintessentially English in the book, film and TV adaptations of the story; but what is not widely known is that Ransome modelled his characters on the Altounyans, an Anglo-Armenian family from Aleppo, Syria. Swallows and Armenians reinstates the cultural diversity of the children who inspired Ransome, delving into the very special relationship between the two families that also, spectacularly fell apart.

Swallows and Armenians began life in 2017 as a small exhibition, and rapidly grew into a book of short stories, painstakingly researched through letters and diaries from the Arthur Ransome archive at the University of Leeds Special Collections. This was followed by a devised performance with local children at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, an audiobook (available at www.audible.com) and a touring exhibition across the north of England.

Our new production:

In 2022 with a diverse cast and original score, we created the newest addition to the Swallows and Armenians catalogue. Karen Babayan adapted Swallows and Armenians for the stage, in collaboration with Persia Babayan-Taylor, a director, actor-musician and composer. An original score was composed for the production by Persia Babayan-Taylor, with support from composer and musical director Madeleine Wilshire. This was a short 45 minute production in two acts, performed by professional actor-musicians to an appreciative audience of 220 people outdoors, over two days. Our new production in 2025 will be extended to 90 minutes and will be offered as a visiting production to theatres in the UK.

The cast with Director Persia Babayan-Taylor (sitting centre) & Musical Director Madeleine Wilshire (standing centre).

What will your donations go towards?

Your kind donations will go towards helping us pay the cast and crew, help to cover the costs of travel and accomodation and help to fund the set, props, costumes and to develop the show into a full-length in-theatre production. This is the first stage of our fundraising endeavours. The money raised from our supporters will also strengthen our applications for funding from grant giving bodies.

What will you get in return?

The satisfaction in knowing you have contributed to creating an original piece of actor-musician theatre that has an important message of inclusion at its heart and which brings a positive awareness of the richness of the UK's diverse communities and their contribution to the cultural fabric of the UK

What did our audiences say?

What did our reviews say?

About Karen Babayan:

Karen was born in Iran to Armenian/British parents and moved to the UK due to the impending Islamic Revolution in 1979. Latterly she lived in Leeds, a stone’s throw from the house in which Arthur Ransome was born. She now lives in Appleby, Cumbria. An established, multi-disciplinary artist, writer and curator, Karen has exhibited nationally and Internationally with work in many public collections including Special Collections, Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; Leeds City Art Gallery; Harris Art Gallery, Preston; Tate Britain Library, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. In 2016 she gained a PhD, published her first book of short stories ‘Blood Oranges Dipped in Salt’, and was awarded C-Art Cumbria Artist of the Year. www.karenbabayan.com