Writer: Lindsay Rodden
Director: Amy Golding
Here is a co-production between Northern Stage, Curious Monkey and Newcastle University. It is informed by work with sanctuary seekers from around the world and the University’s research project on young refugees’ experiences. This performance was preceded by a curtain raiser performed by Curious Monkey’s Arriving Group, sanctuary seekers who helped develop the play.
The play fits into Northern Stage’s This is Now, billed as ‘A year-long festival… asking important questions about the issues of today..’ It could hardly be more timely to consider the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, particularly in the light of current events.
The play is set in a run-down, once mobile, library in Byker, a working class area of high-density housing in Newcastle. In this space, cleverly designed by Katie Scott to give flexibility and authenticity, four people find different forms of refuge. Janet is a bespectacled, Scottish-accented, cardigan-swaddled, spinster librarian with leftist leanings and a sassy mouth. Though she may be somewhat of a stereotype, Karen Traynor makes the most of her opportunities to provide light relief as well as some earnest emotion.
Joana Geronimo brings high energy and some lightness of touch to the character Pauline, a young Angolan refugee whose overwhelming desire is to gather the stories of the people that surround her. Unwilling to tell her story is Lulja, an asylum seeker who is struggling against the authorities to find her place and manufactures new histories for herself whenever questioned. Arieta Visoka portrays her with commitment, though she has little opportunity to fully develop the character. Completing the cast is Murat Erkek’s Salim, a Kurdish refugee; dignified, sensitive and intellectual. His performance is perhaps the most engaging in its quietness.
The director keeps the characters moving and makes maximum use of the space and Niroshini Thambar’s sound design and Simon Cole’s lighting and AV projections work well to support the script. Nevertheless, the first act seems to wear out its welcome. It takes too long to get to know the characters and their stories are not as gripping as one might have expected, given the wealth of material that, presumably, was available.
The second act is more absorbing as Lulja’s story unfolds and the characters, now established, have some amusing interaction. Because of circumstances, the quartet becomes two by the end; one older and seeking solace in what is already written and the other young and motivated to tell new stories. The library succours them both.
This is not a play full of graphic and upsetting detail about the refugee experience. It is more about the feelings and the struggle of those adrift in a strange country, trying to find their safe place. As such, it is very much a story for our time.
Runs until 12th March 2022
