In 2015 the stage production #Haters was created through interviews and workshops with Hackney residents in response to a real incident: a social housing tenant from a housing estate in Hackney was stabbed in his shoulder and retreated into a newly opened bar in the area to run away from his assailants. After calling emergency services, the management tweeted a picture of the young man’s blood on the floor with the hashtag: #welcometohackney. The incident became case in point for the repercussions of regeneration in one of the poorest areas in the UK. Social media and tabloids fuelled the hate. #Haters was written to offer a fair representation of both side of the story, hoping to foster communication in this broken community.
In 2019 #Haters was adapted into a movie currently touring film festivals, schools and community centres to generate conversations and prompt creative responses from young people and residents in urban settings affected by the issues of the film.
Watch the teaser: #Haters film teaser
Read about #Haters community and schools programme
#Haters: the journey
June 2014. A stab, a tweet and a social-media storm rip the sultriness of the hottest summer on record since 1976.
Two young heroes worlds apart gravitate towards each other against the will of alluring internet chimeras. Two epic journeys set out in the storm of urban regeneration. Will their hands touch?
Inspired by real events #Haters tells about ‘hipsters’, ‘roadmen’ and social-media chimeras digging out the real people beyond the stereotypes. It’s about opportunities, fate and values told with a good dose of self-irony and with extreme compassion for the characters involved. It’s about the rising of violent crime, regeneration, “gentrification” and a world that changed suddenly right before your eyes and you could only witness.
What the audience said
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Theatre production
Written and directed by Emilia Teglia
Music composed and directed by Barbara Diana
Cast: Greg Snowden and Josh Okusanya
Vocalists: Barbara Diana, Lola May, Jennie Jacobs
Photograph by Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
For information about the next stage of development and tour dates contact info@oddeyestheatre.net
Film
Written by Emilia Teglia
Co-directed by Tristan Shepherd and Emilia Teglia
Edited by Tristan Shepherd
Stabbing attack in Hackney inspires new play about gun and knife crime in east London Originally published on The Guardian Series, 8 February 2017 by Rachel Russell In a bid to crack down on gun crime, the Metropolitan Police have launched a campaign this week to encourage people to hand in their firearms to any police station […]
The journey of #haters begun in June 2014 when a gory incident in East London attracted social media attention on the repercussions of gentrification on local communities. The play was the result of a series of interviews with old and new residents, social-media research and devising workshops with the Members of Odd Eyes Theatre participation […]
#WelcomeToHackney: bar’s reaction to a stabbing inspires play about gentrification #welcometohackney – known as #haters at the time of this interview – is a story about community conflict based on a controversial incident at a Hackney pub last year Interview by Sophie Hemery, first published on the Hackney Citizens press, December 2015 Emilia Teglia, founder […]
#Haters is being developed with the support of Arts Council of England and thanks to the fundraising efforts of our Members.
