Théâtre National de Nice, 2016

This monologue was an enormous shock for me, both in its power and its poetry. What is truly interesting in this writing is that it treats a very current subject with poetry that is simultaneously contemporary and epic. Lina Prosa draws heavily on the myths of Greek tragedy and anchors them forcefully in today’s Mediterranean.

This text of unbearable current relevance takes on a universal dimension thanks to its poetic transposition. Through this theatrical device, we can sensitize the public in a new way. We all become Shauba, the heroine of this drama. She brings us out of our individualism to touch us in our most profound humanity, far more than the flood of information we receive from morning to night and to which we become insensitive. We go straight to the heart and to the essential.

Stories of smugglers and refugees have always moved me deeply. I have never understood how economic priorities can take precedence over human hospitality. How can we refuse to extend our hand to those who risk everything to come to our countries? How does man succeed in not recognising himself in the other?

Today, emigration is a burning subject. We can no longer remain silent. As long as we judge that one life has more value than another, we are far from a solution. As the Senegalese author Fatou Diome so rightly says: ‘We will be rich together or we will all drown together.