Snakes & Ladders

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Snakes and Ladders is a powerful theatre production produced by We Restart Charity and delivered by Zhvan Theatre Company. Written by Hamed Vojoudzadeh, an Iranian journalist, activist and refugee, the play is rooted in lived experience and shaped through a collective creative process.

The story follows Hamed’s journey from Iran across Europe to the UK, framed through asylum interviews and moments of reflection. As his memories unfold, the audience is taken into refugee camps, border crossings, forests, trucks and boats, where survival often feels like a game governed by chance and forces beyond one’s control. Like the board game Snakes and Ladders, moments of hope and progress can quickly turn into setbacks, delays and unexpected falls.

Along the way, we meet a group of fellow travellers whose stories intersect and diverge: people searching for safety, dignity and a future. Their experiences reveal not only hardship and loss, but also humour, friendship, generosity and resilience. The play moves between intense and light moments, reflecting the complexity of real lives and relationships.

The production uses a minimal set and ensemble storytelling, combining movement, sound and visual language to create an immersive and accessible experience. It is designed to reach diverse audiences and does not rely solely on spoken English.

Snakes and Ladders invites audiences to look beyond headlines and statistics and to engage with migration as a deeply human experience. It is a story about risk, choice, survival and the search for belonging — and about the people we meet along the way.

(In the picture to the right: Hamed Vojoudzadeh)

The origins of Snakes and Ladders are deeply rooted in community and lived experience.

Director Chris Walters first met Hamed Vojoudzadeh while volunteering in temporary accommodation for people seeking asylum shortly after Hamed arrived in the UK. Through weekly theatre workshops, Chris encouraged Hamed to begin writing and performing scenes inspired by his journey and the people he had encountered along the way. What started as a small creative exercise gradually evolved into a collective process involving fellow asylum seekers and refugees, many of whom contributed stories, improvisations and personal reflections. Together, they founded Zhvan Theatre Company — a space where theatre could become a tool for expression, healing and connection. An early work-in-progress version of the play was presented during Refugee Week 2025 as part of the Human Rights Today Festival in London. The audience response was immediate and emotional, with people laughing, crying and recognising their own experiences within the work. Since then, the production has continued to grow through weekly rehearsals at the Wembley Creative Community Hub, supported by We Restart Charity. Professional collaborators in sound and visual documentation have joined the process, helping shape the production while preserving the authenticity and collective spirit at its heart.