How Not to Drown review

There is no doubt that Dritan Kastrati has a tale worth telling. Aged 11, after a childhood in Kosovo, he embarked on a turbulent journey across the Adriatic Sea to a new life in England. This play, co-written with Nicola McCartney, is the dramatic presentation of his experiences as a young asylum seeker. It is a potent and blisteringly honest account of experiences that are unimaginable to most of us; but as theatre, it has some flaws.

In Neil Bettles’ production, Kastrati is supported by a chorus of four actors, and each in turn takes the helm of his narrative. Teetering on a rotating, tilted wooden platform, they athletically act out Kastrati’s crossing from his homeland. But with so much movement, constant role-rotating and overlapping voices, it is difficult to find the emotional heart of the staging.

Once Kastrati reaches the British shore, though, both the pace and the poignancy intensify. Thrust into the hands of immigration officers and foster workers, he is shipped into the homes of strangers who promise him care. Though his new guardians offer him the essentials, don’t actively harm him, and gift him a bed to sleep in each night, “it’s what they don’t do” that is the problem. “Maybe when it is your job to care, you can’t really care that much,” he says wryly, as he begins to question whether his years of turmoil and estrangement from his family have been worth it.  

The nuanced script grapples with the meaning of protection and the complications of being stuck between languages, cultures and systems. “Blah” replaces English words that Kastrati can’t understand, giving the audience a profound and audible sense of his remoteness. He is forcefully torn from the arms of his brother, his only family member in England, and into foster care to keep him “safe”. At school, racist taunts are hurled at him in the playground. Kastrati’s cries that no one is listening to him are stark and harrowing.

This is one refugee story – but of course, the pain and struggle that Kastrati has lived through are not unique. Each year, thousands like him are forced to make the sacrifice of leaving everything they’ve known behind in an attempt to gain sanctuary. As drama, it may not be perfect – but this is a bleak picture of the reality that they risk so much to win.