The Italian Play 2018: Europa a Lampedusa
Italian Studies is delighted to present an original play performed, in Italian and English, by students from European languages, in collaboration with Animation at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), the Modern Dance Society, and Edinburgh Studio Opera.
The play brings us to the island of Lampedusa, where a migrant woman, called Europa, has just arrived after a long and terrifying journey. The story interweaves mysteriously with the classical myth of the abduction of Europa, Phoenician princess who bestowed her name on the continent. The connection creates a narrative short circuit that opens up to a heated discussion about the interpretation of the myth, as well as about European identity, citizenship, and the current refugee crisis. A dance performance interrupts the discussion and tries to re-imagine the long journey through the Mediterranean to Lampedusa. Back to the island, real stories from migrants are told.
Written and directed by Carlo Pirozzi
Assistant Director: Ida Casilli
Project coordinated by Davide Messina
Performed in Italian and English
Thursday 8th and Friday 9th March 2018, 7.30-9pm
George Square Lecture Theatre, University of Edinburgh
Adults £5 (children and unemployed - free)
Tickets at the door or RSVP to: italianplay2018@gmail.com
Together with students from Italian, and other subject areas within European Languages and Cultures, the play involves students from Animation at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), the Modern Dance Society – coordinated by artists Carolina Ravalioli and Gabriele Colferai –, and Edinburgh Studio Opera. It also includes a collaboration with Gabriella Carrozza (Teatro del Cerchio di Parma), poet Marjorie Lotfi Gill, the Palestinian film director Razan Madhoon, Amer Masri (Co-founder, Teenage Syrian Refugee Tutoring Project), Alaa Alshaikh Sulaiman (Teaching fellow in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies), and the Italian social projects ‘Make Art not Walls’ (Trevi) and ‘Aeris’ (Lombardia).
The play is kindly supported by the Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh, and features in the SYN Festival, a Greek multi-arts festival based in Edinburgh.
© Photo by Jacopo Di Cera, Viaggio #4
The photo is part of Di Cera’s Until the End of the Sea, a photographic project focusing on the migrants’ ‘boat cemetery’ on the island of Lampedusa.
Related links
Read our interview with cast and crew of this year's student plays
Find out more about related research, the Europa Project: Tradition as Transformation
