Of opportunity and talent, on the stage as in life: the MigrArti Project

The deep night. A few hours earlier, a wild party. Now, you and your bed. And a deep sleep. All of a sudden, everything around you starts to catch fire. What to do? “I would walk through the flames, burning my feet, if this could ensure my survival”, Bakary tells me.

Bakary is a lad from Mali who crossed the fire – but it was water, that of the Mediterranean – to get to Italy in 2014. I realise that we are no longer talking of a play in the theatre (the scene of the flames comes from Enea’s Journey, a drama directed by Emanuela Giordano, which was performed at the Argentina Theatre until a few days ago), but of real life. “Coming here on that boat from Libya is a risk – he explains – but one worth taking if it’s a route that can offer you the chance of a better life”.

I met Bakary, Lamin, Charles, and Nasir to talk to them about Enea’s Journey, a project promoted by the Theatre of Rome, in partnership with the Liberi Nantes association and Amref Health Africa-Italy. It was the winner of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s (MiBACT) MigrArti 2017 competition.

This is an artistic and cultural experiment in areas where the relationship between migrants and the local resident population is complicated. It takes place across three phases:

• the first, in April and May, involves a period of workshop training on the theme of travel with professional actors and 17 migrants from the Liberi Nantes association, under the supervision of the aforementioned director Emanuela Giordano.
• the second, in June, was made up of nine days of performance and open workshop on a lorry-stage passing through the streets the streets of the Tor Bella Monaca, Quarticciolo and Pietralata districts.
• finally, on June 9, the city will join the theatre via an open call to the citizens of Rome to get up on the stage at the Argentina Theatre for a collective performance with 200 participants on stage.

The first word which emerges from our chat, loud and clear, is OPPORTUNITY. Migrants, the media constantly remind us, are people who have to keep quiet about their desires and ambitions; people with only needs and necessities, condemned to live – sorry, survive – in a ‘mechanical’ way, waiting continually in some reception centre. But it is not like that…

“There are loads of people who in their own country have studied and can do lots of things. Opportunities need to be created for them, for us”, Bakary tells me. In Mali he was (is) an agricultural engineer. “I asked if I could cultivate a small piece of land near the reception centre, to make a vegetable garden. They denied me permission. But doing something has to be better than wandering aimlessly around the city”.

“I really like the activity of the theatre workshop because, not having a job, it keeps me busy,”, Charles echoes. Charles is a Nigerian lad who divides his time between school and church (he’s a Jehovah’s Witness). And the theatre.

“Let’s do something together to make this country exceptional”, adds Lamin, who arrived in Italy from The Gambia in 2013. “We ask for help, but we also want other people to be able to come to us and ask for help. We want to show that we can be useful to this country. We live here, and if the country isn’t going well neither are we. Everybody should do something, even something small, to make the world a better place”.

Lamin studied to be a plumber ad would like to have done that in Italy too. He brought his CV, and was even prepared to work for nothing to learn his trade better. But all in vain. Now he is working nights as a receptionist, does other temporary jobs and also studies. His dream is to one day become a chef and have his own restaurant. (“Not right now, though. First I have to learn really well”).

The second word – which in this case rhymes with opportunity – is TALENT. “Through the activity of the theatre workshop – Lamin continues – we finally have the opportunity to demonstrate that we are also people of talent, and willing to offer that to others. During the workshop days we compare ideas and experiences, we draw, we play music, we sing, we dance. Each one of us does something, following their passions, and the others join in. Every day that I go there, I learn something new. And to be in contact with professionals, people of experience who can pass on their skills to others, gives you just the push you need to go ahead and express yourself”.

It is Bakary who adds further clarity to the concept. “I used to speak rarely; I had a very closed nature. One day I would like to be like them, like the professionals”.

Nasir intervenes. He understands Italian, even if he speaks it little (he is taking the third year in middle school and has done a course to be a welder). Thanks (also) to the theatre, he is making progress with the language and not only: “This activity has allowed me to know lots of people; I’m no longer shy like I used to be”. And as if to prove that he is no longer shy, he asked to put on a little performance with small cymbals (his passion) during the show and to recite a part in his own language.

“Anyone who wants to do something and get on in life can’t be timid. I have never been timid. In Nigeria, this word does not exist in the dictionary”, Charles replies with a smile, but in an assertive manner.

Different ideas, points of view, cultures and abilities: a value too often forgotten, a resource too often unexploited. “I’m looking forward with joy to the second phase, when we pass through the Roman neighbourhoods of Tor Bella Monaca, Quarticciolo and Pietralata”, Bakary tells me. “In that moment, we will be able to demonstrate to Italians that we are not the ‘baddies’, but human beings like everyone else, with the good and the bad you find in every social group”. Good, bad, cooks, agricultural engineers, rappers, welders, skaters, shy and otherwise; all together to share their abilities and passions. On the stage, as in life.

(Stefano D’Alessio)