The Sea-Watch equipment with the directors of the show Enrico Baraldi and Nicola Borghesi
The fiction set aside, the reality on stage. It is that of migrant humanity that crosses (and dies) in the central Mediterranean. It is that of those who – rescuers and rescuers – has decided to dedicate a part of their life to rescue at sea and tries to prevent the repetition of these tragedies.
Enrico Baraldi and Nicola Borghesi, Founders and members of the theater company Kepler-452brought this “accumulation of stories” to the show to the theater A Place of Safety. Journey to the central Mediterranean which debuts at the forefront of Arena del Sole Theater of Bologna The February 27th (A production by Emilia Romagna Ert Theater / National Theater together with the Teatro Metastasio di Prato, CSS theater Stabile di Innovation of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Théâtre des 13 Vents Cdn Montpellier and in collaboration with Sea-Watch and Emergency).
The show is the result of a long period of field investigation on the topic of rescue at sea, which began with a series of dialogues between Baraldi and bourgeois, who sign directed and dramaturgy, and some NGO contacts engaged in the rescue operations, continued with a period of residence in Lampedusa and with the following departure for the Mediterranean route aboard the Sea-Watch 5 ship, on 11 July 2024 from the port. Over almost five weeks of navigation, the ship rescued 156 people, then landed in the “Place of Safety” assigned, the port of La Spezia. The ship, with Baraldi and bourgeois on board, returned to Sicily on 5 August at the end of the mission.
Baraldi and Borghesi, how was this project born?
«The theatrical representation is the last stage of the route. Our company, Kepler-452, born in 2015, has been dealing with documentary and participatory theater for ten years. We tell reality through the instrument of the theater involving the real protagonists of the stories that we bring. Ours is a splash on political or social contradictions and conflicts ».
Have you made other shows on this style?
“Yes, Capital. A book that we have not yet readwhich brought the struggle of the workers of the collective of the GKN factory in Campi Bisenzio, near Florence. From that experience, in which we staged a group of four workers, we decided to continue the research within the contradictions of the present, widening the horizon to the eye of what happens in the Mediterranean, on the border of Italy and Europe. In addition to being the place of a tragedy that has been going on for at least ten years, the Mediterranean has also become a place of clash and political conflict. A year and a half ago we began a study and research path together with two NGOs, first Sea-Watch and then Emergency, interviewing people who in various capacities operated on the research and rescue ships of these and also of other NGOs. After these interviews, we decided to embark on the Sea Watch. Our focus was immediately the stories of the rescuers, what pushes them, the reasons they have, because they have chosen such a tiring and, in some respects, dramatic experience ».
How did the experience in Lampedusa and then on board the Sea-Watch shaped the show?
“Without the experience in the field there would not have been the show because being at sea with humanitarian operators was the prerequisite to tell what happens as Miguel Duarte, head of Iuventa and Sea-Watch, who is also one of the protagonists of the show said. The mission we lived last summer is a bit as a narrative frame to the rest of the work ».
Some protagonists of the show “A Place of Safety”: Giorgia Linardi, Enrico Baraldi, Flavio Catalano, Floriana Pati
Who are the other “actors” who brought on stage?
“In addition to Duarte, engaged since 2016 in research and rescue operations at sea in the Mediterranean and which for his work on Iuventa has risked up to twenty years in prison for an accusation of aiding and abetting illegal immigration ended with acquittal, there are Flavio Catalano who in 2022 was in the team of preparation of the Life Support, the Ship of Emergency; Giorgia Linardi, jurist and spokesperson for Sea-Watch, who participated in several missions on rescue ships and air monitoring in the central Mediterranean and in the Aegean, from Lampedusa, Malta and the Greek island of Lesbo. Floriana Pati, a nurse, engaged from 2022 on the Life Support aboard which he participated in five missions in the Mediterranean and José Ricardo Pena, American of Texas, son of immigrants, who two years ago applied to work as a maritime electrician on the Sea-Watch with which he made four missions ».
Is the fact of giving the voice directly to the protagonists is not a sort of “distrust” towards the mediation of the theater? Art tells that reigenting, through fiction. You have done an almost journalistic operation.
«Enrico, during the mission, wrote a column for The daily fact And he documented with some videos what happened and we saw. But the “journalistic” part ended with the conclusion of the mission. For us, the possibility of having people who have seen and experienced this phenomenon with their eyes and who have acted with their body is a great added value and is very different, from a theatrical, scenic and story point of view, compared to entrusting it to professional actors. It is not so much a distrust in the possibilities of the theater, but precisely an even greater trust in the possibility of theater to be a place open to welcome stories, direct witnesses, personal experiences. If we want, it is the return to the idea of a theater as a place of civic formation and expression of the agora, as the fifth century Greeks would have said, in which two communities meet – one to tell one story and the other to hear it tell. As already happens between cinema and documentary, the theater can also be included in this vein of non -mediation and weave this direct line between witnesses and listeners ».
The phenomenon of immigration is complex, harbinger of furious controversy and ideological clashes. What is the message that you hope you pass from this show?
«We would like that on this polarizing theme there was no message, but rather a debate, a dialectical exchange because the question is too complex to be summarized in a unique figure. Staying on those ships gives you back just a complexity that clears the field of easy solutions. The phenomenon is epochal, it does not have the traits of the emergency, it is a tangle while we have the irresistible desire to reduce it to something unique. At the same time, we hope that through this show we always remember that humans are human beings and human life always applies and that people who dedicate their lives, or a part of their life, to this mission celebrate life and are worthy of respect. Always”.
Nicola Borghesi aboard the Sea-Watch
How did you choose the protagonists of the show?
«The first criterion was the mutual affinity that was born with some of them. The second is the attempt to try to represent the complexity and diversification of this world of missions at sea. For example, a fact that has surprised us a lot is that it is a strongly feminine world, even if it is a marinery, a traditionally hard work and great effort. The female protagonists of the show embody each different sensitivity. Floriana is a nurse and deals with care, Giorgia has a more political and diplomatic role. It is truly a teamwork with a highly international team if we think of José Ricardo Pena who arrives on the other side of the ocean and has felt almost “called” in the Mediterranean where not only is an epochal tragedy is being consumed but also a political battle. Not surprisingly, a few days ago Elon Musk, one of the most powerful men in the world at this moment as well as the main collaborator of the American president Trump, took the briga to attack the Sea-Watch directly. This is an eloquent signal of how the Mediterranean has become a battlefield that really concerns world policies. We are witnessing a dangerous ideological polarization ».
From an emotional point of view, what gave you this project?
«We are not particularly religious but thanks to this show, perhaps for the first time, the theme of religion has entered our work and in our lives. It is no coincidence. “
In what sense?
«The proximity to the themes of life and death, of the value and sense of life are themes that have to do deeply with religion. Attending rescue operations of people in danger, being in the middle of the sea, who is a hostile place, naturally leads to contemplation and relationship with one’s spirituality “.
How was the experience on the island of Lampedusa before the mission?
«Very fascinating. The parallel of bathing and tourist life with this tragedy has impressed us very much. We witnessed some autonomous landings of migrants and we saw the people who made the whole trip to the sea in the face, we smelled the smell, given the exhausted bodies. We have made many interviews and collected stories and our impression is that the island of Lampedusa is a community that has antibodies to face and react to this phenomenon with solidarity, sharing with those who arrive and welcome capacity. It is like an ancient memory that reactivates and tends to hand towards those in difficulty ».
Enrico Baraldi aboard the Sea-Watch
