Migrant Voice

Interview with Theatre Director Arne Pohlmeier

By Joanna Cordero

As part of the Globe to Globe Festival Two Gents Productions will be bringing their Shona version of the ‘Two Gentleman of Verona to the Globe theatre on 9 and 10 May.

The Globe to Globe Festival, which is part of the Shakespeare Festival for the London 2012 Festival, brings together artists from all over the world to perform Shakespeare’s famous plays in their own languages.

German-born theatre director and founder of Two Gents, Arne Pohlmeier chats with Migrant Voice about working in multicultural London and what it means to be a ‘migrant theatre director’.

1. Can you talk a bit about what the Two Gents is and how it got started? How did the collaboration between you and the actors, Denton Chikura and Tonderai Munyevu begin? Where did this focus on re-interpretations using Zimbabwe culture come from?

Two Gents Productions is a cross cultural theatre company based in London. We present work in London, the UK and on the international touring circuit. We write, devise, develop and perform challenging and unique work that draws on Shakespeare, on our experience of migration and displacement and on our two actors’ Zimbabwean/Shona background.

Our work together started in 2008. There was a joint desire to create our own work; work that reflected our experiences and inspirations of shifting between cultures and languages, of southern African modes of performance and of setting Shakespeare’s work free by giving it a contemporary, urban, outside of the box twist.

2. How did Two Gents become a part of the Globe to Globe Festival? Two Gents is one of the few London-based theatre groups in the festival, was this a deliberate choice to include a ‘migrant’ group and do you think that this sets the group apart from the other performers?

The festival director, Tom Bird, came to see our production of Kupenga Kwa Hamlet at London’s Oval House theatre in 2010 , really enjoyed it and thought the energy we brought to the stage would work well within the festival. The fact that we are a migrant company probably only influenced his decision indirectly in that our work is made to bridge the gap between cultures and in that we have a real facility in communicating to audiences no matter what their language and background.

3. Your version of Two Gentleman of Verona is hilarious and really finds a good balance between Zimbabwean cultural features and staying ‘loyal’ to the text, how does this balance come about?

This balance is absolutely crucial to our work as we aim to create a real intercultural encounter between the different element of our work. We are mindful of the fact that both the Shakespearean text and the Zimbabwean/southern African modes of performance need to be treated with equal respect, curiosity and playfulness. As a director I am aware that I cannot create this fusion between the two in my head and then only expect the actors to carried it out. It is the actors that really need to take full ownership of the text and incorporate it into the vocabulary of performance that is most readily available to them.

4. How did you become interested in re-interpretations of Shakespeare?

I really got in to reading Shakespeare at university and was a big fan of Shakespeare on stage and screen. It was self evident to me that any performance of Shakespeare is always going to be at a distance from the text and that a “faithful” transposition of text into performance is nothing but a myth. A real honest engagement with the text is then only possible if you integrate it into your own field of experience and interests, which necessitates re-interpretation.

5. Do you think that having a ‘migrant’/’mobile’ background influenced your interest and the way that you engage with the text? Shakespeare has been re-interpreted in so many different ways, do you think that ‘inter-cultural’ readings bring something new?

Directing theatre always involves bringing yourself and your perspective to the work and so I do try to us my migrant background (Germany-Cameroon-USA-South Africa-UK) to inform my reading of the text. I very much hope that the inter-cultural work I create helps to challenge the status quo by allowing audiences to see the text from a new and unexpected perspective.

6. When did you arrive in London and what attracted you to the city? Has it lived up to your expectations?

I moved to London in November 2007, I really wanted to direct Shakespeare in English and London seemed the best place to do it, alongside the promise of being part of a rich and diverse performing arts community. London has indeed lived up to my expectations, though making a living here and carving a space for myself within the arts scene continues to be a challenge, but one that I am happy to engage in.

7. Do you consider yourself a ‘migrant’ theatre director? In your day-to-day work does this play a role?

I do. For me home is a space between places, languages and cultures. When I create work my background allows me to take an impartial look at all the different cultural elements that I am drawing on.

8. Collaborating with people from a different culture can be challenging and rewarding, what are the best things about it and what are the difficulties?

Rewards: Seeing things from a perspective distinctly different to my own and being exposed to a cultural heritage that I otherwise have no access to. As Two Gents Productions Denton, Tonderai and I have learned and shared so much from our differing backgrounds including dance and music styles (Herbert Grönemeyer vs Oliver Mtukudzi) as well as food (Currywurst vs Boerewors) and more!

Challenges: Recognizing and letting go of assumptions that are not shared by other cultures.

9. How has your work been received by the London public?

Our previous shows (Two Gentlemen of Verona and Kupenga Kwa Hamlet both had extended runs at Oval House Theatre in 2008 and 2010) have been enthusiastically received by audiences, but the big test – Two Gentlemen of Verona in Shona at Shakespeare’s Globe next week – is the biggest test so far. Denton and Tonderai are not only extremely skillful performers they are also very charistmatic and exhuberant – I am sure that anyone flocking to the Globe will come away warmed and enthused!

10. Do you plan on working more in ‘inter-cultural’ settings? Other future projects (especially in London)?

I plan to focus even more strongly on inter-cultural and inter-national work in the coming years. I will be working on a German classic, Schiller’s The Robbers, with a company in Yaoundé, Cameroon later this year and would love to bring it over to the UK in the future. I am also in the planning stages of a new project in which I would like to involve artists and audiences from some of London’s many migrant communities, but this won’t be confirmed for some time yet.

You can see the Two Gents Productions at work during the following dates:

9-10 May 2012 , performing Two Gentlemen of Verona in Shona at the Globe Theatre, for more information: http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/plays/the-two-gentlemen-verona/english

23 May 2012, performing Hamlet at the Canada Water Culture Space, tickets are available via www.thealbany.org.uk

25-26 May 2012, performing Two Gentlemen of Verona in Shona at Tara Arts, for more information: http://taraarts.ticketsolve.com/shows/126523490/events

For more information check out www.twogentsproductions.com

Photo: Two Gents Productions.
Wanted: funder for UK ‘Ellis Island’ migration museum

Frank Meisler's Kindertransport memorial outside Liverpool street station

Photo: StoneColdCrazy

A former immigration minister is leading a team that aims to create Britain’s first museum of

migration.

Britain has thousands of museums – more than 100 in London alone – but no major comprehensive museum devoted to all aspects of British migration, both incoming and outgoing.

Former Labour minister Barbara Roche and her team believe it could be as significant as the opening of the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool in 2007, which director David Fleming described as the most important new British museum for 100 years: the transatlantic slave trade was the greatest forced migration in history.

The US has Ellis Island, once the gateway for millions of immigrants to the US, and Roche believes Britain needs something similar: an institution to celebrate the role of migration in the national story.

“The great thing about Britain is that it has absorbed migrants for centuries,” says Roche. “I feel very proud to be British and this project is about realising that one of the best things about being British is that we are made up of difference.”

A migration museum would also cover British emigration: 5.5 million British nationals are estimated to be living abroad (roughly the same number as foreign nationals living here) and some 60 million people around the world claim British ancestry.

Roche emphasises the importance of making people realise such a museum “is for all of us, not just for one particular group or community, because as the writer, Robert Winder says, we’ve all come from somewhere else’. The only thing that distinguishes us is how far back we go.”

Suggestions for the location include East London’s Docklands area, Birmingham, Cardiff, Southampton and Liverpool.

She says the main problem is finding a major donor –“maybe someone of migrant heritage who feels particularly patriotic because of all that he or she has managed to achieve in Britain.

“We know this project is ready to fly and we’re just waiting for the right person or people to have the courage and vision to fly with us,” she says.

Article by Migrant Voice reporter.
The homelandless: limbo between two worlds

Photo by Natalie Bennet

Victor Fraga, who has made a home in Britain but fondly remembers his original homeland, talks to two exiles who are not so fortunate.

When I think of my homeland,Brazil - an ocean and a hemisphere away from my chosen home in London – I experience a gentle sense of longing. I remember my family, my schoolfriends, my childhood places, my favourite TV shows, the vibrant colours, tastes and smells. I can almost sense the beach and the joys of carnival right in front of me.

Brazil is now the country of the future. The unrelenting prophecy that “the sleeping giant is going to wake up” is now becoming reality. The economy is booming, poverty and social inequalities are diminishing. Virtually all indicators are positive.

Unfortunately, not all immigrants have the same privilege. Most did not opt to leave their homeland like me and instead were brutally forced out by a series of unfortunate, often catastrophic, circumstances. Their feelings towards their homeland are in violent conflict with mine.

Jean Baptiste and Fred (not their real names) are both from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country devastated by decades of civil war, with little prospect for improvement. A bloody past and gloomy future.

Jean Baptiste is 40, from the eastern town of Bukavo, near the Rwanda border. His voice is placid, his manners kind and agreeable.

He was a headmaster and a preacher before fleeing to Britain because of his vocal opposition to the President, Joseph Kabila.

He had been arrested five times without a charge and feared for his life.

His wife and kids are dead, murdered by pro-government forces, like most of his friends and relatives. Jean Baptiste is 40, from the eastern town of Bukavo, near the Rwanda border. His voice is placid, his manners kind and agreeable. He was a headmaster and a preacher before fleeing to Britain because of his vocal opposition to the President, Joseph Kabila. He had been arrested five times without a charge and feared for his life.

His memories are ridden with blood and and fear, He has no-one left at home to visit, he has no desire to return to his childhood place and does not see even a faint hope of improvement.

Jean Baptiste has been fighting for years for the right to bring in his wife and three children, but the Home Office has told him that to do so he needs to earn a minimum of £2,300 a month. This is so absurd that it would have been more honest for the Home Office to have simply said “no”. As we went to

press, however, we learned that he has finally been allowed to be reunited with his family.

Fred’s story is similar, involving political opposition in Congo, arrest, and escape with the help of a black market agency, leaving wife and kids behind.

Fred, however, is not concerned about family rights. Instead, he wants to start a new family in the UK. This is not because Fred is heartless. His wife and kids are dead, murdered by pro-government forces, like most of his friends and relatives.

Talking to Jean Baptiste and Fred makes me feel like a champagne immigrant who decided to move to a richer and more promising nation on a caprice.

My life in here has enabled me to learn a lot and appreciate my Brazilian and Spanish heritage. I have helped publicise Brazilian culture in the UK and I like to think that I make a contribution to London’s diverse cultural landscape.

But what’s the point in discussing your favourite British dish or artist when your priority is simply staying alive? Unlike me, Jean Baptiste and Fred did not choose to live in the UK out of admiration for the vibrant cultural scene. They came here because it offered a chance for survival.

I have three passports: Brazilian, Spanish and British. Jean Baptiste and Fred possess no passport. They have a Home Office travel document, which grants extremely limited mobility.

My parents and sisters don’t need a visa to visit me. I speak to my cousins on Facebook. When I have kids, I have no doubt that they will be able to travel the world.

Article by Victor Fraga
Concern as security companies take over asylum housing

Photo by: Iseult Timmerrmans

A multinational company that has won a contract for housing asylum-seekers in Scotland has been challenged to maintain standards. Serco has been urged to adopt the “Scottish Standards for Temporary Accommodation”, which outline minimum housing and service standards for people in temporary homeless accommodation.

The standards are promoted by the charity Shelter Scotland and the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland.

Michael Collins of the Glasgow City of Sanctuary group commented: “Glasgow can be proud of our history as a city of welcome for people seeking sanctuary. Asylum housing provision, however, has been very hit-and-miss and some of it, particularly in the private sector, has been downright awful.

“We aren’t asking for special treatment for people seeking sanctuary, just a housing service of the same standard as that for other people who find themselves homeless.”

Collins, a former housing manager at the Scottish Refugee Council, added, “In Glasgow and across the UK there have been examples of shockingly sub-standard housing being used.”

Provision of housing for asylum-seekers in Scotland has often been controversial. For several years it was provided by Glasgow Council, and has since been managed by the private Angel Group and the charity Ypeople.

But at the end of 2011 the UK Border Agency said Serco would take over the job.

Two other multinational security companies, Reliance and G4S, have also won similar contracts elsewhere in UK. All are involved in the provision of immigration detention services in the UK. Serco runs the Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.

Concern about putting responsibility for housing into the hands of private corporations has been expressed across the UK, particularly over the danger that standards of support are being being lowered.

Article by Pinar Aksu
Yasin's story. 'We will kill you if you don't come to lunch.'

Photo: Copyright Isabelle Merminod

“I am 17 years old. I left Somalia in May 2011. I am now in Lutsk Detention Centre in Ukraine. I have been given 12 months in detention for no reason. I was captured on 23rd December 2011.”

Yasin Abdi Ahmed is a young man seeking political asylum in Ukraine.

His family is over 3,500 miles away. Yasin has been on hunger strike with 83 other Somalis in 2 detention centres, Lutsk and Chernigiv in Ukraine since 6th January. He tells his story to Isabelle Merminod and Tim Baster.

“I passed through Russia. I came to Vinnitsya because there are lots of Somalis in Vinnitsya. I stayed with 7 Somalis in two rooms. 3 girls and 4 boys.

And then I tried to claim asylum in Ukraine. Every day for six days I go to the Immigration and they say that it is closed or they are waiting for an interpreter. I went to the UNHCR twice and they said to me that if I want help from the UNHCR then I must get rejection from the Immigration. At the Immigration, they asked me to pay $150 to make an asylum claim. I said to them 'I don't have $150.' So I could not register.

I came back to my house and, because I had no documents, I hid from the police so I would not be arrested. After one and half months at 5:00am 4 policemen knocked down the two doors and then entered the home. They said that we must give them money or they would arrest us. They body- searched everyone including the girls. We had $350 to live on. They did the search to take the money. It is a common practice. Then they took us to prison in Vinnitsya.

I then faced the Ukrainian justice system along with 38 others who had also been arrested at that time. 14 had enough money to pay off the police. That left 24 Somalis in prison. We stayed in the prison until 10:00pm that night and we were then transferred to the court. There was no judge to hear the cases. And of course we had no lawyers. Nor could we talk to anyone as our mobiles had been confiscated by the police. After a three hour wait a judge arrived. It was then 1:00am in the morning.

I said 'I want a lawyer.' He said, 'You have no money to pay a lawyer.' I said 'I have.' He said 'You have no right to a lawyer.' The judge asked me to sign something and I refused. He signed it himself. Then they ordered me to stand and he said 'You have 12 months.' We all stood one after another. After that I was taken to a prison in Vinnitsya for three hours and then to Lutsk detention centre. I was in front of the judge for about 3 minutes.

When I was captured they asked my name and my age. And again they asked me when I was in prison. They never asked if I wanted to claim political asylum. I did not ask the judge as I had only a few minutes before him.

At the beginning of February, the riot police came into Lutsk detention centre and threatened all the hunger strikers saying if we did not eat we would be beaten. It was terrifying. Eight of them came to me. I did not know that they were police who had the right to come in. They had masks, big boots, sticks, tear gas and pistols – two of them had guns. I was shocked. I have never seen police – in Somalia we don't have a Government. They said 'Stand up'. They searched me and they kicked me. And they said 'We will kill you if you don't come to lunch.' The other person in the room was Pakistani and he spoke a bit of English and Russian and he translated. They took me to the dining room and they made a film of us. After 10 or 15 minutes they took me to my room and they left.

I have a feeling of being kidnapped by the Ukrainian authorities. I fled to seek refuge, I am hopeless and I am sick. I have a kidney problem which is getting worse, I have an infection. But they asked me for money to send me to hospital. But I have no money. They give me paracetamol.”

The hunger strike of 83 Somalis in Lutsk and Chernigiv detention centres started on 6th January. It carries on.

(The name has been changed to protect this asylum seeker)
A day in the life of a migrant - Borys' story

Article and photo by: Nishit Morsawala

“I ended up as a migrant quite by accident,” smiles Borys Baran.

“I had come here on holiday four years ago to visit my cousin for a couple of weeks, and just ended up staying after that. I remember calling up my parents and saying ‘yeah I’m not coming home as early as expected….”

Borys is part of the staff at the Portobello Road branch of the acclaimed Gail’s Bakery, where he works with a host of other migrants in the UK – in fact, the only non-migrant is their manager Martin.

“It’s interesting, seeing how we all fill the gaps in so many job sectors here – it says enough that all my colleagues at the café are migrants.”

A typical day for the 25-year-old Pole means coming to work a little before 7am, when he starts his shift, and finally finishing at 2pm. At other days, he works the same eight-hour shift from around one or two o’clock in the afternoon till the café closes.

Although for Borys working as a migrant in the UK is not just about the money. He holds a degree in administration from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland, is fluent in English, and also wants to do a Master’s degree further on. If confronted with either a job that pays more or a one that has a lesser salary but is more connected to what he wants to do, he would rather choose that job that best allows him to follow his passion.

The Polish community in London now numbers 555,000, larger than the Irish (353,000) and the Indian (327,000) communities.

“Five years ago, there was a point where I would hear Polish everywhere, though it’s become a lot more mixed now than it was before.”

“It’s not as if I lead a different life as a migrant –I enjoy rollerblading, reading books, going to the pub and having a fun time with my friends once in a while…honestly I like to things that any other Londoner would.”

However, Borys does not think that most Poles come to London to eventually settle down. He knows many of his countrymen who have bought or built houses in their hometown with their earnings in the UK, or have come here to get a better idea of what it is like to work in an international city.

“I came here to tap into the opportunities available here to work globally…you can’t really do that if you stay confined to your home country.”

Borys also plans on going to his home in Walbrzych in a month, saying he’ll miss London’s “multicultural character”.

He plans on staying in Poland for the next two or three years, though he might return if the economic situation in his country worsens.

“Life in London is easier in some ways…there’s a lot more that you can do with your disposable income, and what you can buy has a better connection to what you actually earn than in Poland where the tax rate on certain items is as high as 45 per cent.”

He does however have advice for migrants who do plan on coming to work in the UK, as he was made aware of some harsh truths while leading his life here.

“It’s not a fairy-tale life that you lead when you come here. There is a lot of work to be done, and you may not always get to do what you want, or even have the time to. Beyond a point, you need to hide your ambitions in your pockets until the next big opportuinity,” winks Borys.
Following my passion

For Riccardo Moretti, a typical day at work might involve many things – from firefighting and motocross racing to selling cheese and salami at a farmer’s market. Add a little bit of studying economics and a rigorous swimming regime, and you begin to understand what drives this 27-year-old Italian migrant.

“I always follow my passion, but right now I need to go forward with my life, and I’ll do as much as I can for that to happen,” says Riccardo.

Riccardo has been coming to London for the past two years to work in the catering sector, though only for six months at a time. While he’s usually in London from January to June, he spends the remaining six months back home in Milan, Italy, where he works as a firefighter.

“My contract only allows me to work for a six month stretch every year, but I plan on applying for national recruitment, where I’ll be able to work all over Italy throughout the year.”

When he’s not firefighting or, at least until a few years ago, motocross racing, the Surbiton resident spends his time in London working at market stalls and cafes. This year, he worked two jobs at Costa Coffee and Paul’s Bakery, and also working at an Italian farmer’s market stall on the weekends.

“I like to keep myself busy. I always need to do something, and on the occasion I’m not working I like to go out with my friends – London is a fun place to be that way.”

Motocross racing, a passion he inherited from his father, was something he had to leave behind in the economic crisis that affected the sport in 2007-2008. When most of his sponsors backed out, he left the sport where he was a minor celebrity in Italy to devote his energies to being a firefighter, which he had already applied for before he quit racing..

“I did try to apply for a firefighting position here in London – I think I was the only migrant who did – but for some reason my form didn’t even pass the initial acceptance stage,” he says ruefully.

For Riccardo, that hardly means he’s going to stop following his dreams. Some of his friends are studying at one of London’s best business schools, and he spends as much time as he can studying finance and economics by himself.

“I buy their books when they’re finished with them and study as much as I can by myself – I can’t apply for a course myself as it’s much too expensive,” says Riccardo, who’s previous academic expertise is that of a surveyor.

Firefighting, racing, vending, studying, the list goes on for a man who still thinks he has a long way to go until he achieves success- and he’s more than ready for the journey.

He does, however have a piece of advice for fellow Italians who want to cross the channel for a better life: “If you like to make an effort, keep yourself busy, and be recognised for your work, then you should definitely come here. London is a city where you can realise your dreams, if you work hard enough”

Photo source: Riccardo Moretti

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