Lampedusa - Paperback

by Anders Lustgarten (Author)

This is where the world began. This was Caesar's highway. Hannibal's road to glory. These were the trading routes of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, the Ottomans and the Byzantines . . . We all come from the sea and back to the sea we will go. The Mediterranean gave birth to the world.

Step into the shoes of those whose job it is to enforce our harsh new rules: an Italian coastguard and a payday lender from Leeds. How do they do it? And what happens to them? Lampedusa is a powerful play about immigration and welfare.

This edition was published to coincide with the premiere at the Soho Theatre, London, on 8 April 2015, as part of the Soho Theatre's season of Politics.

Author Biography

Anders Lustgarten is Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre, where his first two plays, The Insurgents (2007) and Enduring Freedom (2008), were produced. Other work includes The Punishment Stories (shortlisted for the 2007 Verity Bargate Award), an adaptation of Slawomir Mrozek's The Police (BAC 2007), The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie (2010) for the National Theatre Studio, and If You Don't Let Us Dream We Won't Let You Sleep for the Royal Court. Lustgarten is a political activist, has taught on Death Row, has been arrested by the Turkish secret police, and holds a PhD in Chinese politics from the University of California. He won the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwright's Award with a commission from the Royal Court in 2011.