Migraaaants is a theatre piece by Matei Visniec translated by Nick Awde and currently playing at Theatre Passe Muraille in a production directed by Siavash Shabanpour.  The programme describes it as a “dark comedy”.  I’m not so sure.  It certainly has absurdist elements and is occasionally funny in a very uncomfortable way but “comedy” I’m not so sure.  Besides, the subject matter; forced migration and people trafficking into and around the EU, is seriously grim.  The “dark” part is on the money.

Structurally, it’s presented as a series of scenes, slotted together like a temporal mosaic, that tell parts of four different stories plus a couple or three extras.  The main story line, hinted at by the subtitle There’s Too Many People On This Damn Boat concerns a people smuggler and his sidekicks carrying a human cargo from Tripoli to Lampedusa.  It opens the show with Ahmed Meree, as Boss, treating the audience as his cargo.  We’ve been handed baggies for our phones and sick bags for the voyage and there are plants in the audience that Boss can swear and scream at.  It’s loud and scary, a very impressive performance and a hell of a start to the show.

We see lots more of Boss and his sidekicks and sometimes his passengers.  Boss gives unhelpful counsel on how to get past immigration and be made welcome in the EU.  He argues with his men about whether they should throw Christians or Muslims overboard when things get rough and, finally, we learn what happens when Fehed (Jamar Adams-Thompson) cuts corners on lifejackets.

Interspersed with this story line is a second major one.  We are in a modest home in the Balkans.  Balkan Man (Andrew Chown) and Balkan Woman (Mahsa Ershadifar) encounter a stream of refugees wanting to charge their phones.  They are poor but compassionate and he, ironically, is a construction worker building a barbed wire fence on his country’s border.  The phrase the “Banality of Pity” comes to mind.

Then there’s Elihu (Parastoo Amanzadeh); a young boy, who is lectured by some kind of Evangelical figure on why God has given him two legs, two arms, two eyes, two kidneys etc when he could get by on one.  He needs “capital” to get to his dream job; as a public lavatory attendant in Birmingham, and bring over his mother and siblings.  You can figure out the rest.

Then there’s the President (Garrett Mallory Scott); a European “leader” with the intellect and toupee of Donald Trump but rather less charm.  He’s being coached (by Henry Oswald Peirson) not to rant about immigrants but use dog whistles and a sense that the problem is beyond his control to maintain his “populist” credentials.

Besides these four stories cut together there are three “intermezzi”.  In the first two bubbly trade show demonstrators (Keely Krall and Shannon Pitre) show off their “illegal immigrant detector”; a heartbeat based device that will ensure your vehicle is free of human contraband.  Solar powered and very affordable of course.  They are back later as Barbies selling the latest in customized Barbie Wire.  Finally, there’s a bizarre circus troupe (clown, acrobat, jugglers, etc) touring a distressed area somewhere in the Middle East using pizzazz to persuade parents to send their children to “safety” in Turkey and the EU unaccompanied.  In 2015 there were 270,000 refugee children unaccounted for in the EU.

The material is disturbing as Hell.  It’s clever, it’s ironic, it’s upsetting and it flows seamlessly for 90 minutes making full use of the two level space at TPM.  The lighting is suitably dramatic and there’s sparing but effective use of projections (both Duncan Appleton).  It’s quite a ride.

Migraaaants plays at Theatre Passe Muraille until January 28th.

Photo credits: Zahra Saleki