Quotes from pre/reviews

 

‘The play was superbly performed with a minimalist set, lighting and sound yet the story was paced and well-written, with a twist in the tail to leave the audience thinking for a while after they left their seats.’

PostSCRIPT

(March 2006 Issue)

 

 

‘A dynamic theatre company made up of British and East European academics and artists…staging a thought-provoking new play about the plight of asylum seekers in Britain.’

Buzz

(Birmingham, UK, Issue 72, Mid-January 2006, p. 4.)

 

 

‘This dynamic new writing gives the opportunity to see the real meaning of being an asylum seeker or refugee, to be made privy to the intimate sorrows of a group of people often portrayed in the media as statistics, spongers or a threat to society.’

Angela King Redbrick

(Birmingham, UK, Vol. 70, Issue 1282, 20th – 26th January 2006, p. 3.)

 

 

‘A hard-hitting play about the plight of asylum seekers in Britain.’

Tony Collins Birmingham Mail

(Birmingham, UK, 20 January 2006, p. 96.)

 

 

‘Immigrants are all too often seen as a threat and that worries Gëzim Alpion…[who] has written a play exposing the frustrations and tragedies of asylum seekers in his adopted Britain…Dr Alpion is a successful academic but he sees himself foremost as a writer…Controversy does not bother Dr Alpion, who places great value on freedom of speech, but excessive political correctness does. He says the forced closing of Behzti, a play that caused offence to some Sikhs in Birmingham, was a disgrace.’

Anthea Lipsett The Time Higher Education Supplement

(London, UK, 3 February 2006, No. 1,728, p. 10.)

 

 

‘The production is aimed at correcting misconceptions about people who leave their country of origin.’

Birmingham Mail

(Birmingham, UK, 6 February 2006, p. 18.)

 

 

 

‘Alpion is the first Albanian intellectual in Britain to take issue openly with the mistreatment of Albanian immigrants.’

Muhamed Veliu Express

(Kosova, 8 February 2006, p. 25)

 

 

‘The play does not appeal only to the Albanian community in Britain. Leka is every refugee stranded in a foreign land…; so is Alma who, in spite of being an intellectual, is treated as a second-class citizen.’

Lavdrim Terziu Albanian Mail

(London, UK, 10 February 2006)

 

 

‘The problems of the two main characters are those faced by the entire Albanian nation…they symbolise a national trauma which is central to this play. Alma from Albania and Leka from Kosova personify the tragedy of all Albanians.’

Xhevat Ukshini Zëri i Ditës

(Prishtina, Kosova, Western Edition, No. 1199, 15 February 2006, p. 11.)

 

 

‘[T]he fact that more than half of the full auditorium wanted to take part in the discussion shows that they were both moved and mystified by the play…The interpreter was brilliantly played by Tina Hofman…Richard Attlee, known as Kenton in The Archers on BBC Radio 4, played the refugee very convincingly. His provocative monologue about the situation of refugees in the UK was directed to the audience.’

Mei Paruca Redbrick

(Birmingham, UK, Vol. 70, Issue 1286, 17th – 23rd February 2006, p. 6.)

 

 

‘We are so used to hearing journalists’ and politicians’ perspectives that we no longer question them, accepting them and even believing in the propagated stereotypes. I was staggered, shocked and moved by this play which presented the immigration issue from a whole new angle. Through the leading character’s compelling performance as an asylum seeker (acted by The Archers’ Richard Attlee), the audiences’ eyes were opened, their ears engaged and their minds challenged.’

Eve Hancock Buzz

(Birmingham, UK, Issue 74, March 2006, p. 6)

 

 

‘An English play with Albanian rhythm.’

Shqip Magazine

(Tirana, Albania, No. 44, March 2006, pp. 36-38.)