Borders
he Mediterranean, 2017, rough seas…
British playwright, Henry Naylor challenges preconceived notions of the Syrian refugee crisis and Western responses to it.
Directed by Louise Skaaning
Two artists from different worlds meet in an unlikely place: the middle of the Mediterranean Sea…
Sebastian (Graham O’Mara) is a young English photo-journalist who travels to Syria to cover the refugee crisis. At the same time, an unnamed Syrian street artist (Deniz Arixenas) is forced to flee the Assad regime after a dramatic change in her life.
Their stories may be different, but Naylor intertwines the two contrasting lives in the most heartbreaking and visceral ways, creating a beautifully relatable narrative.
Meet the Syrians – Exhibition
STET has asked the founder of the visual art platform Meet The Syrians, Sofia Dawoudi of Anna Marie Art Stichting, to curate an exhibition during the performance days of BORDERS in the Paradijs theatre of the Koninklijke Schouwburg in The Hague. The exhibition will show 20 works from a selection of artists that collaborate in the platform.
Meet The Syrians is an online platform of Syrian artists from all over the world. It consists of artists in different fields like fine art, photography and filmmaking as well as performing artists. This platform of artists has exhibited in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Groningen, Rotterdam and Delft. Recently it was involved in Art for Freedom, a Movie Night in Theater aan het Spui in the Hague.
The exhibition can be visited for free and is open during the performance hours of Borders.
For a visual introduction of Meet The Syrians, click here..
Henry Naylor and Borders
Naylor is recognized as one of the best contemporary playwrights in the UK. In the past 3½ years, his plays have won, or been nominated for 32 international awards.
In 2002, Naylor visited the ruins of post-war Kabul, which changed the nature of his work. In recent years he wrote a sequence of plays about the West’s interaction with the Middle East – or which Borders is one. Naylor brings a refreshing take on a complex and loaded political situation, yet does not compromise on the depths of his characters, and ferocity of his storytelling. Inspired by several interviews and meetings with refugees, Borders finds a way to magnify the Syrian crisis through an action-packed and profound hour of drama.
Since the premiere of Borders in 2017, the performance has won massive critical acclaim, winning an extraordinary 21 five and four-star reviews. (Photo on the left by Rosalind Furlong)
From the Press
The Scotsman, ★★★★ Joyce MacMillan: “The quality of Naylor’s writing is so vivid, and the show’s twin performances are so intense and perfectly-pitched, that Naylor’s one-hour play seems to contain a whole passionate political disaster movie for our times ”
The Times ★★★★ Ann Treneman: “This is a report that just happens to be on stage.”
Evening Standard, Ayesha Hazarika. “As we filed out in stunned silence wiping away the tears, it was a profound reminder of the power of art and culture.”
Reviews Hub, ★★★★★ “if there are more powerful performances on the Fringe this year, they must be few in number.”
Morning Star, Chris Bartter ★★★★★ “Another tour of the writer’s Middle East series … an exceptionally prescient dramatic depiction of a key political issue today … Lvova and O’Mara are impressive”
Independent, David Pollock ★★★★ “Naylor’s name on the Fringe.”
Theater Extra, ★★★★★ “if I never see another decent show in Edinburgh this year it will have been worth spending 3 weeks here just to see this.” The Guardian, One of the Top 5 Edinburgh 2017 shows (Mark Lawson)