Part of: Fast Forward Festival 4

FFF4 | Sanctuary

Brett Bailey

Dates

Prices

5 — 10 €

Location

Athens

Time & Date

Day
Time
Venue
Day
Wednesday-Sunday
Time
18:00 | 18:15 | 18:30 | 18:45 | 19:00 | 21:00 | 21:15 | 21:30
Venue
Port of Piraeus | Gate E2 | Petrini Apothiki (Stone Warehouse)
Day
Tuesday-Wednesday
Time
18:00 | 18:15 | 18:30 | 18:45 | 19:00 | 21:00 | 21:15 | 21:30
Venue
Port of Piraeus | Gate E2 | Petrini Apothiki (Stone Warehouse)

Information

Tickets

Full price: 10 €
Friend & Small groups (5-9 people): 8 €
Large groups (10+ people): 7 €
Reduced, Unemployed, People with disabilities & Companions: 5 €

Reservation is recommended due to limited availability.

General

In English and in Greek
Age guidance: 13+

45 minutes

Getting there:
By Electric Urban Railway: A small shuttle bus will transfer the public from Piraeus Metro Station to the Stone Warehouse (15 minutes prior to each time slot). Visitors will first gather in a special spot inside the station.

By car from Gate E2: Enter Gate E2, and turn right. The Stone Warehouse is on your left-hand side, next to a parking lot. Follow the signage. For more information, see the map.

Homes lost, homes threatened, and homes yearned for. Eight refugees, immigrants, activists and interpreters from the Middle East, Africa and Europe, portray fictional characters grappling with the European Union in crisis in this labyrinth-like installation, which draws on the myth of the Minotaur.

South African director Brett Bailey has been raising questions about racism and post-colonialism for years. His new work, "Sanctuary", is an immersive journey into the surreal terrain of the European Union in crisis, as xenophobia and populism flourish and as surveillance and border controls expand.

Upon entering a prison-like labyrinth, spectators encounter a series of vivid scenes, charged with symbolisms, that convey both the states of oblivion in which so many refugees and immigrants find themselves and the states of insecurity of the European citizens who fear them. "Sanctuary" considers notions of home: homes lost, homes threatened, and homes yearned for.

Brett Bailey created a sequence of scenes during a two-year research phase, which included stints at several refugee camps around Europe. The cast features eight multilingual performers, ranging in age from 20- to 70-years-old, and includes refugees, immigrants, activists, and interpreters from the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The performers departed from Bailey’s scenes to develop fictional characters that confront the rupturing of their sanctuaries.

PARALLEL EVENT

6 May | 12:00 | Upper Stage | Onassis Stegi
Open Forum with Brett Bailey, Lionel Tomm, Françoise Hemy, Karam Kafri, Ian Robert and Magd Asaad
Chaired by Kostis Papaioannou, History teacher, ex Secretary General for Human Rights

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In preparation for "Sanctuary", Brett Bailey spent time in "The Jungle" refugee camp in Calais, and the "Grand Synthe" camp in Dunkirk; on Lesvos; In several camps in Athens, Palermo and Hamburg. There, he met dozens of refugees and aid workers. He also networked with refugee and immigration organisations in Hamburg, Marseille and Athens, explaining his project to them. From these experiences, and from 2 years of research, he designed eight scenes for "Sanctuary". His dramaturg – Eyad Houssami – and Brett Bailey interviewed around 60 candidate performers in Athens, Hamburg and Marseille: activists, refugees, and interpreters who work with them. From these people they selected eight performers. He gave each of the performers a scene, and during a seven day workshop in France in March, the performers developed the fictional characters to inhabit the scenes.

South African director Brett Bailey has been raising questions about racism and post-colonialism for years. His performances – from operas to site-specific, theatrical installations – investigate the complex relationships between Africa and Europe, between mythology and the atrocities of empire.

Credits

  • Director-Designer

    Brett Bailey

  • Dramaturg-Writer

    Eyad Houssami

  • Sound design

    Manolis Manousakis

  • Lighting design-Lighting engineer

    Colin Legras

  • Videos

    Catherine Henegan

  • Performers

    :

  • Student, activist

    Karam Al Kafri

  • Refugee aid, interpreter

    Magd Asaad

  • Dancer, performer

    Sandrella Dakdouk

  • Activist

    Francoise Hémy

  • Artist, performer

    Muna Mussie

  • Interpreter, performer

    Ian Robert

  • Actor, performer

    Nidal Sultan

  • Performer, activist, musician, student, actor, theatre pedagogue

    Lionel Tomm

  • Lionel Tomm

    Miguel Munoz

  • Sound/Video engineer

    Carlo Thompson

  • Company & Stage Manager

    Helena Erasmus

  • Illustration and Graphic Design

    Roger Williams

  • Set Building

    Ray Studios

  • Props Master

    Velissarios Sirmakessis

  • Soundscape

    "Neroli" written by Brian Eno

  • Piano

    Constantinos Evangelidis

  • Interactive Programming

    Alexandros Drymonitis

  • Sound Mastering

    S19st

  • Producer and General Manager

    Barbara Mathers

  • Executive Producer

    Jan Ryan

  • Location managers

    Panagiotis Lazarakos, Elena Lamprou

  • Line Production (Athens)

    Giorgos Tsitsas

  • Management

    UK Arts International / Third World Bunfight

  • Third World Bunfight is supported by

    The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund South Africa.

  • Co-production

    Onassis Cultural Centre / Fast Forward Festival (Athens, GR), Kampnagel Hamburg (DE), Festival de Marseille / ExtraPôle Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (FR), Vooruit (Ghent, BE), Teatro Maria Matos (Lisbon, PO), LIFT (London, UK), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main (DE), Teatro Municipal do Porto (PO) and Maillon, Théâtre De Strasbourg – Scène Européenne (FR), in association with Third World Bunfight

  • We warmly thank

    Piraeus Port Authority S.A.for kindly offering their help.

  • Special thanks for recitation of the recordings

    Vassilis Douvitsas, Christos J. Carras, Raphael Jason, Daniel Wetzel

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