"I believe in God, I have four children to feed myself and I do it to help my brothers in distress. I do it because the world is a bad place and I want to give a future to those who were born in a worse part of a bad place... So, let's go!" - these are the words with which the guides on the coast of North Africa greet the illegal migrants who board their boats, embarking on a crazy journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the shores of Lampedusa, the island of their dream Italy. Huddled together in hundreds on small boats, they begin the journey of a lifetime, none of them sure of reaching Europe. What makes them take such a desperate step and leave their homes and families for the "Europe of milk and honey"? Some are driven from their countries by wars, others by hunger, others by unemployment and disease, or simply by the desire for a better life, whatever the cost. Sometimes even their own lives. This unprecedented migration has been going on for years, but has recently gathered momentum, leading Europe to draw "perimeter lines", erect barbed wire fences, change domestic laws and adopt "global solutions" to tackle illegal migration.
Lithuania, like the rest of Europe, is also facing a migration crisis. Our 'migrant quotas' may not be as large as those of Germany, France, Italy or our neighbouring Poland, but every passer-by on the street will have something to say on the subject, will have his or her own opinion, and most of the time this opinion will be quite categorically directed against black migrants from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and other sub-Saharan African countries. ARTYN Theatre's premiere of Too Many of Us for This Fucking Ship will not seek to change the Lithuanian opinion on migration, but will invite a comprehensive look at it from all sides. Without judging or blaming anyone, but seeing the whole as it is. To quote the theatre scholar Audra Žukaitytė, "Theatre is a meeting place where we try to talk about important things". That is what we will do. We will talk about important things that not only touch our present day, but that step by step, imperceptibly transform the face of society and change our future.
"Too many of us on this fucking ship" - the title of the play may seem harsh or even repulsive, but life has too many sugar-coated themes as it is: we miss the real and the authentic, the unvarnished and the lies. This premiere will be like that, where each viewer will be able to choose: which part of the world do you live in - the worse, badly ordered part, or the better, well ordered part?
