Migraaaaants ― There's Too Many People on This Damn Boat

They come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Al Jaza'ir, Somalia, Hagere Ertra, Iraq, Libiyah, Al Maghrib, Haiti and many other countries where life is no longer compatible with the idea of future. There are millions of them. How many millions? We don't know. They are called “migrants” and have only one obsession: to reach Europe.

Europe has panicked for the last years. The responsible politicians and the public opinion understood that there are about 80 million people who live in war zones and have in fact the right to ask for international protection, i.e. political asylum in Europe. The borders started to close, barbed wire appeared. Europe doesn't come to terms with the situation, instead it seems to give in to the temptation of giving up its values. It is a human tragedy happening in front of our eyes.

This play has thus at least one major target: to destroy indifference.

Matei Visniec, born 1956 in Radauti, Romania, studied history and philosophy at the University of Bucharest. In 1987, during the communist dictatorship, he fled to France. Since then he's lived in Paris as a playwright and novelist, also working as a journalist for Radio France Inter. Visniec has written over 40 plays, which have been performed in thirty countries, for instance in the Royal Theatre/Stockholm, Maxim-Gorki-Theater/Berlin, Schauspielhaus Dusseldorf, Theatre de la Veillee de Montreal, Kaze-Theatre/Tokyo, Open Fist Theatre Company/Hollywood, Stary-Theatre/Warschau, Piccolo-Theatre/Mailand. He is also one of the most popular authors at the popular Festivals de Theatre d'Avignon. Since the end of the dictatorship in Romania, Matei Visniec is one of the most widely performed playwrights there. Nick Awde was born in London, brought up in Africa and educated in Lancashire. He writes for The Stage and theatreguidelondon.com. He has written, edited or illustrated over forty books, including Mellotron and Illustrated History of London. His dramatic works include Semtex and Lipstick (King's Head Theatre, 1992) and Andrew Lloyd Webber the Musical (Canal Cafe Theatre, 1993)