The performance deals with the current situation of refugees. It’s also about fears, prejudices and dreams. It’s based on the interviews and quizzes with real people: migrants, refugees, volunteers and politicians. It is performed in several languages with sub-titles in Swedish, Finnish, English, Russian and Arabic languages.
«While working on the international project «Meeting Odyssey» I got acquainted with many people who regard the island of Lampedusa as something more than just a geographical location. Some have learnt to see it as their dream, their goal, their Pearly Gates while others take it as a problem or a disaster or sort of a running sore. Lampedusa has a personality of its own, or, to be more exact, several personalities – young and old, European and African. One of them is the personality of a young African girl, whose sister had died in a boat and they had to stay side-by side until they reached their Lampedusa. Another is the personality of the Maltese cultural affairs officer who told me that he is absolutely happy about such a place as Lampedusa – for otherwise «they would all come to my mother country to shag it.» Lampedusa is our reality. It is my reality, too.»
— Year and location:
2016, Viirus, Helsinki
— Creative team:
Stage management: Tanya Weinstein
Performance: Maria Alrot, Viktor Idman, Robert Cock, Eva Sovioor, Nike von Weisenberg
Scenario: Christopher Mellgren
Costumes and slap: Tira Terman
Scenography: Nike von Weisenberg, Mari Agge and Tanya Weinstein
Footlights: Mari Agge
Music: Arbetsgruppen
Production director: Matilda von Veisenberg
Photography: Tani Simbeg