Oldham Coliseum to host 'final show' about refugee child

'How Not to Drown', a multi-award winning ThickSkin and Traverse Theatre Company production, is described as an "intensely visual, uplifting and action-packed true story" about an unaccompanied refugee child making his way to Britain.

The tale relays the real-life experience of Dritan Kastrati, who not only wrote the play with the help of co-writer and foster carer, Nicola McCartney, but will perform in it as himself.

Set in 2022 at the end of the Kosovan War, the play follows Dritan as an 11-year-old who was shipped on the perilous journey across the Adriatic with a gang of smugglers to pursue a new life in Europe.

But Dritan's fight for survival is far from over when he lands on Britain's shores as he finds himself caught in the complex British care system.

The company first met Dritan 13 years ago through a theatre training programme for young people and has been mentoring and supporting him as a performer since then.

How Not to Drown follows the story of a child refugee coming to the UK (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Dritan has gone on to be awarded a BBC performing arts fund bursary and performed as Monano in Frantic Accesmbly's hit show, Othello.

He has also played the lead in the feature film, Pit Stop Mafia, and played Mickey in the 2016 feature film, Elvis Walked Home, in which he won Best Lead Actor at the International Film Festival Awards.

Now he is bringing his first stage play, which won the Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019, to Oldham this month.

The show will feature at the Fairbottom Street theatre on Thursday (March 23) through to Saturday - and could potentially be the last performance to grace the Coliseum's stage before it is due to close for good, just days later.

Executive Producer, Laura Mallows said: “Since arriving in Manchester, the Coliseum has been a huge supporter of our work.

"How Not To Drown is a show that we are extremely proud of and one which is as urgent now as ever.

"We’re delighted that the Greater Manchester premiere will be presented at Oldham Coliseum at a time of significance in its history.”

The promo poster for the show (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Reflecting on his play, Dritan added: “This is my story, but it could be anyones.

"Just for one second imagine there is a war happening in the UK now, which direction would you run for safety?

"It would be awful. British families fleeing, children separated from their parents. But it’s happening every day across the world."

The performer said he wanted to share his story "in my own words" through the eyes of a child coming to the country alone.

"It’s a story we don’t usually hear about asylum seekers.

"It’s not a sad story, actually parts of it are pretty funny, but it is truthful and sometimes painful", he added.

Director, Neil Bettles, also said the production "feels timely" and "important" - and right for ThickSkin to help Dritan to realise his story having met him shortly after his story in the play ends.

He continued: "It’s a show that we are very proud of and includes all the hallmarks of a ThickSkin show - an urgency in its storytelling about an important social issue of our time, delivered with a fast-paced, cinematic, dynamic quality that we hope will have broad appeal.

The show in action (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

“How Not To Drown is about losing identity and place in the world.

"I think it rings true for all of us that feel a little lost and take extreme actions to find ourselves again.

"Against the context of current world events, this compelling and uplifting true story feels as important now as ever."

ThickSkin said it has a strong relationship with Oldham Coliseum, having collaborated on many previous productions before including Petrichor and Shade, which was a promenade performance put on for Oldham Pride.