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BÉZNĂ Theatre (UK) & Giuvlipen (Romania) present:
How To Break Out Of A Detention Centre
WORLD PREMIERE
A passionate and migrant led international co-production exploring the hardships which face women within the British immigration detention system.
Funded by British Council & Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.
Tot ce-am iubit a murit
Everything I loved has died
كلشئاللذي حبيتهمات
Internalised racism, resistance & white guilt are explored in this compelling new production from BÉZNĂ Theatre and Romanian theatre company Giuvlipen. The multilingual, form-bending work centres the near-invisible female experience in British immigration detention in the UK.
Performed in five languages (Romanian, Romani, Arabic, French and English) and inspired by real stories of migrants living in the UK from Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Cameroon and Sudan, How To Break Out Of A Detention Centre is an exercise in solidarity and resistance.
How to Break Out of a Detention Centre follows the lives of four women working in and experiencing detention in the UK. Faiza battles suicidal ideation after miscarrying in detention, Maria is fighting to be reunited with her children, Elena struggles with internalised racism and Kelly wavers between her duty as Detention Custody Officer and her desire to resist. The show looks at the actions of the individual, alongside actions of the state, the role of the detention centre and the staff who work there, the relationships between the women - as mothers, lovers and co-workers, whilst asking the audience to question their role as residents in the UK. Take a leap into the darkness, as the production asks what it takes to build resistance.
“There’s a bird in my blood screaming to be free. Do you understand? Either I fly or I flee.” Faiza
Riverside Studios will hold a post-show Q&A on the 2nd and 7th of March performances.
Performers - Lizzie Clarke, Mihaela Drăgan, Zita Moldovan, Alaa Taha
Writer - Sînziana Cojocărescu
Dramaturg - Mihaela Drăgan
Director - Nico Vaccari
Assistant Director - iulia isar
Stage Manager - Laura Thomas
Set & Costume Designer - Jida Akil
Lighting Designer - Johanne Jensen
Sound Designer - Daniel Balfour
Video/Projection Designer - Dan Light
Producer - Claire Gilbert for BÉZNĂ Theatre
Because we will be free. We will fly.
Content Warning
Depictions of discrimination (specifically racism, misogyny), suicide, excessive or gratuitous violence, blood, death and dying, pregnancy, discussion about self harm, miscarriage, war, brief reference to child abuse.
About the Companies:
Giuvlipen means feminism in the Romani language and is the first independent Roma feminist theatre company in Romania. Our art is challenging, experimental and highly performative. The themes of our performances are diverse, but they all have something in common: we openly discuss topics that history, mentality and social or political constraints have often silenced. In each show, we seek to reclaim the art, history and cultural identity of Roma, through stories told by us, Roma artists. Giuvlipen was established in 2014 by actresses Mihaela Dragan and Zita Moldovan.
IG/FB: Giuvlipen
BÉZNĂ Theatre is an award-winning British-Romanian theatre collective devoted to confronting institutionalised & normalised violence whilst encouraging grassroots activism through visually bold & challenging theatre. Their most recent production wipe these tears received 5* reviews and sold-out performances. To wipe these tears they ran The People's Tribunal on Crimes of Aggression: Afghanistan Sessions, a durational artistic tribunal built and run by impacted communities. First-person testimonies, expert witnesses, and physical evidence were presented through performance in an effort to artistically shift the focus onto the crimes of the United Kingdom state and prove that the war in Afghanistan, a war referred to as "The Good War," was a crime of aggression. In 2020 we became the first artistic company to be part of the International State Crime Initiative based out of Queen Mary University. Other work includes ILLEGALISED, 2019, UK’s first show to promote the term ‘illegalised’ referring to those targeted by the UK asylum policies: human beings cannot be illegal, but policies can illegalise them and VINOVAT,-Ă, 2018, Romania’s first Climate Crisis play, was invited by the Romanian government to facilitate conversations about environmental policy. The title translates to ‘Guilt/-y’ in English.
@BEZNATheatre
"They are the vanguard of the Romani revolution, a counter-attack, through art and activism - to centuries of oppression.” (Reuters Agency)
"Giuvlipen seeks, from its establishment, to tell stories about the lives of Roma women and to help strengthen their status inside and outside their communities. In re-centering subjectivities, which have heretofore rendered invisible, the potential for change that the artists intended to contribute to is fully exploited.” (Laura Sandu - The Gazette of Political Art)
"Miza spectacolelor nu este să dea un răspuns nominal asupra unei vinovăţii individuale, ci să genereze întrebări legate de un sistem social care se prăbuşeşte.” (Dilema Veche)