An Orange in the Subway, is a story about home, hope and homelessness inspired by real people’s stories of life on the streets and will be performed on the streets in Cardiff.
An Orange in the Subway will be directed by The Other Room’s Artistic Director Dan Jones, and features a cast of professional actors and service users.
The piece will be performed outdoors at Mackenzie Park, Cardiff City Centre from 9 – 27 September 2025.
“Cardiff isn’t one city but different cities on different levels. One for the devils and one for the angels
As the concrete streets sting with the cold, Cassie is convinced someone is watching over her. Do guardian angels really walk the streets of Cardiff? Perhaps they do. Perhaps it’s all nonsense. Because who would possibly give a s*** about her?!
Performed on those very streets and by the people that inspired it, Owen Thomas’ absurd and frenzied new play tackles profound questions from the knee-high perspective of Cardiff’s rough sleepers. What does it mean to have a home? Is there any hope to be found here?
And.
Where did that orange come from?”
Featuring a cross-over cast and creative team of The Wallich service users and seasoned professionals, The Other Room embraces its new nomadic normal with this latest production.
An Orange in the Subway started as a short play for the ‘Young Artists Festival’ at The Other Room.
“At first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about. Then two things happened. I walked through Cardiff on a cold Winters night and counted 30 frozen tents. And the next day as I walked my dog through a subway near my house, I saw an orange dead in the centre. It wasn’t there when we walked back, but the following morning, again in the centre of the subway, was another orange… From these twin inspirations I wrote the short play, but I always felt in my heart it lacked truth because I hadn’t spoken to people with lived experience of homelessness.
In 2022 I answered a call out for a writer to work with service users of ‘The Wallich’. I was offered the role, and my life changed. This initial project sowed the seeds of ‘The Story Project’ and for the last two years I have been lucky enough to have met the most inspiring people, offered them opportunities to engage with Welsh theatre and, most importantly of all, to tell their own stories.
At its heart An Orange in the Subway is a play about how at our bleakest moments we cling to signs and some hope that magic will intervene and save us. This revised version of the play is dedicated fondly to the amazing people I have met over the last three years, many of whom I am proud to call friends, and some of whom are sadly no longer with us.”
“For the last two years The Wallich has been working with an incredible group in Cardiff as part of Arts Council Wales funded The Story Project, a Wales-wide storytelling project for people who have lived experience of homelessness. We opened the door to the world of theatre, and they stormed through it with remarkable bravery, honesty and a fierce desire to use it as a platform to call for urgent change in the systems that consistently fail them.
Working with Owen and The Other Room over the past year, they have all found their roles in acting, writing, directing, stage managing and technical theatre and through An Orange in the Subway they are progressing these new skills onto the professional stage.
This experience is life-changing, enabling them to highlight the real-time reality of what it means to be homeless in Cardiff and to thrive in their new-found talents; for some this project has been the catalyst for new careers and for all it has provided community, confidence and a deep sense of pride in themselves that they may never have found without it.”
“We’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to have a home. We had nine good years of a space to call our own and its absence over the last year has been keenly felt. While our search for a new home continues we continue to create theatre in spaces where theatre might not have been told before.
An Orange in the Subway started life as Young Artist Festival play. Since then, both Owen and The Other Room have practically moved into The Wallich. Our community Director and Owen have been working weekly with The Wallich and its service users since 2023.
While TOR might be more nomadic for now, this doesn’t compare to the thousands of people forced to sleep rough on our streets across the country. It’s heartbreaking. Hearing first-hand and seeing what the charity does, The Wallich is truly inspirational and the strength its users show, and the shocking state of affairs that is homelessness have enriched this short play beyond recognition.
We are thrilled to be working with the service users themselves who will populate the cast and creative team. Making An Orange in the Subway a true collaboration unlike anything we have ever done before.”
Press night: Thursday 11 September, 7.30pm
Estimated running time 1 hour.
Location: Mackenzie Park,Park PlaceCardiff, Wales, CF10 3AT
(Behind National Museum Cardiff and next to Cardiff University Main Building)
Age guidance 16+
Content Warnings – There will be flashing lights and loud music during the performance, as well as strong language, simulated drug use and alcohol misuse.