The Mediterranean Sea, the Sahara, war, rebels, slavery, smugglers, non-democratic regimes and Islamists. These are the key words in most illegal African immigrants’ stories. Those who try to escape from their horrible reality by crossing the Mediterranean, risk their lives seeking a better life. This marginalized group was never important enough to attract significant media coverage for their tragedies. The Store, as a performance, sheds light on this issue like never before.

This performance depends on multi-resource texts: 

“Madam BA” Novel by the French writer Erik Orsenna 1999. 

Slavoj Zizek’s article “In the Wake of Paris Attacks, The Left Must Embrace Its Radical Western Roots” Translated by Elham Eidarous – Mada Masr. 

Tedx Talk by the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie. 

Illegal African immigrants True stories, collected from Marsa Open Centre – Malta.

Credit

Dramaturgy and directed by: Abdalla Daif 

Performed by: Abeer Ali, Ahmed Abou El Naser, Ahmed Ramadan,  Hadeer Nached, 

Amr El Burgi, Mohamed Fouad, Hassan Khaled, Abdelrahman Nached, Zakaria Osama, Mohamed Ashraf  

Scenography: Osama El Hawary    

Sound Design: Ayman Asfour 

Stylist: Aliaa El Gready 

Video: Mamoon Azmy 

Photography: Yasmine Hussein 

Producer: Emilie Petit, Abdalla Daif 

Executive Producer: Delphine Blondet, Ahmed Nagi 

Executive Assistance: Sameh Abdel Kader

Poster: Mohaned Khater 

Advertising Assistance: Adel Hussein

Supported by:

British Council – Cairo, European Delegation – Cairo, Momkin Company – Marseille,  Nassim El Raqs Festival,  DCAF Festival 2018, Arab Art Focus.