Louise Wallwein tells the urgent story of our times, migration, from a personal perspective of being a volunteer with Kos Solidarity in Greece.
A small island wakes up to find itself at the epicentre of a humanitarian crisis. How do the inhabitants respond? Using first-hand experience, recorded interviews and film, Wallwein explores the migration stories of Kos, Greece.
What motivates local people to take action, to provide comfort to the thousands that arrived? What motivates volunteers to put their lives on hold and get involved? What makes refugees set out on a perilous journey, leaving their homes? What would you do?
Film by Tim Baxter with additional footage by Sotiris Palaskas.
Kos artefacts featured in The Island, The Sea, The Volunteer and The Refugee retrieved and loaned by Dr David Swann, Sheffield Hallam University.
“A powerful, emotive and absorbing piece of immersive theatre… [It is] Not only compelling, but it is real.” – Sincerely, Amy
The Island, The Sea, The Volunteer and The Refugee is a mature and well-balanced script in which there are no villains… This is an imaginative approach to drawing attention to a problem that is not easy to resolve and is unlikely to go away any time soon.” – Manchester Theatre Awards
“The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe presents a very real difficulty to theatremakers: what can you do or say, write or perform, that won’t feel superfluous, condescending, moralising, or worse? The Island, The Sea, The Volunteer and The Refugee acquits itself admirably on this score.” – The Stage
★★★★ “This production clearly serves its purpose. Some of the poetry is beautiful and at times difficult to listen to. It certainly made me think ‘There is no them and us. There is only ever us’.” – North West End
“Poems written and performed by Wallwein at times [are] powerful enough to move the audience to tears… The horror that so many refugees have gone through in recent years is vividly brought to the stage.” – The Manchester Review