As Unifaun gets ready to debut Lampedusa – a tale of two migrants with a twist – on the local stage, British playwright Anders Lustgarten shares his thoughts with Ramona Depares about migration and the way we need to inject humanity back into the debate.

Pia Zammit and Mikhail Basmadjian in Lampedusa. Photo: Christine Joan Muscat-AzzopardiPia Zammit and Mikhail Basmadjian in Lampedusa. Photo: Christine Joan Muscat-Azzopardi

What spurred you to tackle migration as a topic?

I’d been aware of what was happening in Lampedusa for a while before the first mass drowning in October 2013, and I was disturbed nobody else seemed to know what was going on. So, I thought I’d better write about it!

It’s been pretty obvious to me from both climate change and my work on development banks, which are one of the main causes of displacement of people in the Global South thanks to the land grabs and mega projects they fund, that it was going to get harder and harder for people in the South to survive and that they would have to go somewhere.

What were your reactions to the request for the play staged in Malta, given the particular circumstances the island is going through?

It’s a perfect venue for it and I was delighted when Unifaun’s Adrian Buckle suggested it. I’m really excited to see what the reaction will be and to see the politics of migration on the front line of Europe.

The play is also being translated into Maltese – is this the first time one of your scripts is being translated into a different language?

It is, although Lampedusa is also being staged in Sweden, Germany, Barcelona and Crete this year, which is a testimony to how crucial this issue is.

How do you describe the play?

Migration is probably the clearest test of what Europe believes it is and what it wants to become since World War II. Migration is basically 30 years of neo-liberalism capitalism coming home to roost: the destruction of the fabric of society in the Global South is driving millions of people out to collide with Europeans who’ve been made vulnerable and insecure by austerity and cuts. It’s divide and rule on an epic scale, coordinated by a truly disgusting global elite who are more in charge than ever. So, the question is: will we be dumb enough to fall for that divide and rule, like Pegida and Ukip? Or will we be strong and smart enough to work out what we’re going to do for ourselves? That’s the dilemma faced by both characters in the play.

Migration is basically 30 years of neo-liberalism capitalism coming home to roost

Have you ever encountered examples of racism first hand in your daily life? How do you react when faced with such things?

Not towards me in any way that it’s worth complaining about. For me, the invidious and dangerous racism isn’t numbskulls with Nazi flags, it’s arguments that portray migrants merely as an economic issue, with questions like 'Do they pay their way?' This reduces complex and traumatised human beings to a simple transaction.

Is there a solution?

Not a simple one, but certainly the place to start would be to look at what Western countries do to cause migration, which is never talked about.

Stop bombing the Middle East. Stop funding development banks and the corporate takeover of the Global South – the World Bank displaced more than 3.4 million people in the past 10 years. Stop fuelling the climate change which is making huge swathes of the world unliveable.

Those are massive issues, but they’re the fundamental drivers of migration, so they’re where you have to look.

Anders LustgartenAnders Lustgarten

Some people will automatically discard a play that raises awareness about migrants’ issues with the excuse that the stance taken is not balanced. What is your reply to that?

Balance in modern journalism is a lie carefully crafted by the corporate media, to try to make their relentless right-wing dogma seem like normality. British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is a crazy extremist, so the BBC can openly mock everything he does. But British PM David Cameron is trying to seriously engage with serious issues in a serious way, so we have to take him seriously. Well, you can stick that ‘balance’ somewhere a Tory MP normally has to pay a woman in Soho for.

Saying that, a play does need a surprising element where you can’t predict in advance what the characters will do or say. This play does that, because neither of my characters would agree with anything I’ve said in this interview. It’s more fun and interesting for me to write characters I don’t agree with than ones I do.

What do you hope people will take from the play?

A sense of hope and common humanity, which I try to convey in all my plays.

What elements do you believe give rise to this strong fear from migrants? How can they be counteracted?

The divide and rule I mentioned before. All xenophobias and fears are whipped up by demagogues and diminished by actual human contact.

The more people meet real migrants and see they’re as complex, funny and annoying as the rest of us, the less malice they will feel. It’s very hard to hate a real flesh and blood person as much as a mythic hate figure. Except for Donald Trump, of course.

Lampedusa runs between Saturday and February 28 at St James Cavalier, Valletta, as part of the Spazju Kreattiv programme. It is directed by Herman Grech and stars Mikhail Basmadjian and Pia Zammit. There will be six performances in English and four in Maltese, with a translation by Immanuel Mifsud. The production will also be accompanied by a series of Q&A sessions with the Anders Lustgarten and an exhibition which promises to capture the many facets of migration. Tickets are available online.

www.kreattivita.org

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