Tuesday April 25th – Romania “Migraaaants” Playwright: Matei Visniec

Migraaaants

Country - Romania

Playwright - Matei Visniec

Translator - Nick Awde

Director - Kate Hendrickson

Collaborators - Trap Door Theatre

Synopsis - They're from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Irak, Lybia, Mali, Algeria, Morocco, Haiti and many other places where life is no longer compatible with the idea of a future. There are millions of them. How many million? No one knows. They're called "migrants" and they have only one thing on their minds: the desire to reach Europe.

In the space of just five months, Europe panicked. Political authorities and public opinion understood that there are about 80 million people on the planet living in war-torn regions and they have the right, in principle, to ask for international protection and thus political asylum in Europe. Borders began to close; the symbol of barbed wire rose up from the nightmarish depths of history. Europe didn't know what was happening to it, didn't know what to do, and the temptation to repudiate its values was great (freedom of movement, human rights, an open society, etc.) and to stop the millions of candidates for exile on the way.