Rehearsals for the play, "Georgina and the Dragon", produced and directed by award-winning Laura Liptrot,  commence on Saturday 4th May and will be performed at the Birmingham Black Box Theatre on 13th July as part of Birmingham Fest 2024.  The cast including performing arts students at BOA in Birmingham and from Walsall College.        

Birmingham Fest takes place every July and is a performing arts festival celebrating  Birmingham`s venues and arts scene.  The festival provides a platform for artists and companies across the UK to showcase their work in a 2 and a half week programme of events that run from 12 - 28th July 2024.  Birmingham Fest is an independent festival, without funding and is designed to celebrate Birmingham and the performing arts.        

The play "Georgina and the Dragon" was written by former solicitor Ian Henery who was the Managing Director of Ian Henery Solicitors, a multi-award winning law firm with 4 offices across the West Midlands.          

Ian`s previous plays include "The Chinese Labour Corps", which was commissioned by China West Midlands and the Chinese Community Centre Birmingham.  The play was performed at The Blue Orange Theatre in Birmingham with an Arts Council England research and development grant.  following the success of that project a further Arts Council England grant saw the play enjoying a week-long run at the Blue Orange Theatre to coincide with Chinese New Year and then streamed from the theatre throughout Birmingham by the Chinese Festival Committee.          

The play received positive reviews and was supported by the Birmingham Chinese Society, Chinese Active Citizens UK and the Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority.        

A second play then entered script development called "Coming to Birmingham: the Making of a Modern City" celebrating the cultural and economic pioneers who came to Birmingham from Hong Kong and South East Asia in the 1940/50s.  There were reading performances at 5 festivals including a sold out performance  2 weeks in advance at Back-to-Backs in Birmingham`s Chinese Quarter on the eve of the Commonwealth Games.  The play was supported by Chinese community groups across Birmingham and community leaders.