Performed at the Warwick Studio-Theatre (UK 2009)

“The production set off to explore the theme of home(lessness) in its many contemporary manifestations through a range of characters that experience various forms of displacement and uprootedness. Placed against the geopolitical backdrop of the early 21st century, these characters emerged as subjects negotiating the contradictions of transnationality. In a way, all of them embodied cosmopolitan conceptions of identity acquired through travel: on one hand there were cosmopolitan globe‐trotters (the food critic, the architect, the ambassador) associated with movements of capital, self-invention, tourism, global travel, and carnivalesque cosmopolitanism. On the other hand, we also saw a depiction of a refugee from Burma signifying a new class of transnational cosmopolitans associated with migration, diasporic movements, and refugees, as in James Cliffords notion of discrepant cosmopolitanism.

Particularly effective was the portrayal of the Rohingya woman, who was not represented solely as a helpless victim, a racialized object of desire waiting to be conquered or rescued (narratives of victimization are central to legal and cultural representations of human rights violations, such as the trafficking of women and girls), but also as an active agent who struggles to make herself a place on a global chart. ”

-Milija Gulhovic
Professor Theatre Studies, University of Warwick

“The metaphorical gestus that were developed for the abstractions of moving, carrying baggage, being involved (wrapped up) in stuff and possessions, gathering together and reaching out for something beyond, the running and waiting rhythms, and the throwing oneself at the wall or banging into it as an absolute limit seemed very effective. The soundscape worked very well—both the choices of music and the seamlessness of its use within the scenarios. The characters and their ambiguous positions in the global economy were presented with both sympathy and critique.”

-Janelle Reinelt
Professor Theatre Studies, University of Warwick

Featuring:
Joao Carrolo
Ua Wongsiri
Lonneke Van Heugten
meLê yamomo

Devised, Designed and Directed by meLê yamomo