Migraaaants: Siavash Shabanpour’s 5-year journey brings the journeys of refugees to the Toronto stage

Siavash Shabanpour, Artistic Director of Two Thousand Feet Up Theatre Company knows exactly who he is: “I am a poet, theatre director, theatre and cinema actor, and a teacher of acting and creative writing.”  It’s no accident that “poet” comes first in his self-description. This is recognition that, in his words, “I owe myself to poetry and literature.” He cultivates that self-definition and passion in personal ways, and it also finds expression in his theatre work. Since 2008, this graduate of Theatre Studies from the University of York in Toronto has directed  21 productions in both English and Farsi. 

In a recent in-depth conversation, Shabanpour shared insights into his latest directorial project, the Toronto premiere of the dark comedy Migraaaants, written by Matei Visniec and translated by Nick Adwe.  Migraaaants was Shabanpour’s constant companion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through interconnected stories, the play captures the struggles, hopes, and fears of refugees – while shedding light on the complex impact of war and migration. The mosaic of stories in Migraaaants leads viewers through the many facets of a global crisis: the terrifying journeys of those pushed into flight, as well as the machinations of political forces unleashing deadly chaos. Presented at Theatre Passe Muraille, the large cast features Ahmad Meree (Boss), Jamar Adams-Thompson (Fehed), Daniel Motaharzadeh (Ali), Andrew Chown (Balkan Man), Mahsa Ershadifar (Balkan Woman), Garrett Mallory Scott (President), Henry Oswald Peirson (Coach), Parastoo Amanzadeh (Elihu), Shannon Pitre (Presenter), Keely Krall (Presenter), Jona Villa (Ensemble), Silvana Herrera (Ensemble), Henrique Santsper (Ensemble), Lean Jafari (Ensemble), Jeysa Caridad (Ensemble), Eric Kinsella (Ensemble), and Jeffrey Auminio-Mesidor (Ensemble). 

This is the fourth work by Visniec that Shabanpour has undertaken. The first reason is obvious: “They possess a poetic quality, which, being a poet myself, I can appreciate.”  Another reason why Shabanpour is “drawn to his writing is the creativity it offers and the opportunities it provides for the production team to have a creative approach to the text.” The original text of Migraaaants has some 30 separate scenes. 

When he initially secured the first grant to stage this production, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and he was forced to postpone the show for two years. Despite the delay and the pandemic’s lingering effects, Shabanpour’s creative process didn’t halt: it deepened. He spent hours walking and contemplating the work, followed by nightly script work with dramaturge Payam Saeedii. Through this rigorous process, they refined and finalised the script to 16 scenes for production: a more mature and creative outcome, albeit with increased production costs post-COVID.

Their version maintains the mosaic-like quality of the text, with parallel stories in various styles from audience interaction and naturalistic narratives. These diverse storytelling methods unify to reflect  the difficult and complex migrant experiences of today’s world.  While Shabanpour and Saeedi undertook a deeply creative journey, it was also deeply respectful of the original work: “alignment with the spirit of the text is something I have strived for and have aimed to reflect in the production, as well.”

Migraaaants addresses not only the external, physical suffering of migrants, but also the internal pain of  feeling lost and searching for identity. Shabanpour becomes animated as he unpacks the problems that a refugee tolerates on the path to achieving their aspirations and reaching a safe land.  These include the personal risks they take, the unfortunate events that occur, and the perilous surroundings they must navigate until they reach their destination . . . only to encounter brand-new problems that they can do little about: money worries, the cold reality of being away from their homeland, longing for family and friends, and the unpleasant ticker tape of news from their motherland. 

As a Middle-Eastern immigrant himself, Shabanpour feels deep empathy for migrants: “Being detached from home, language, and everything you’ve built, and starting anew at an age where creation isn’t easy is a feeling hard to understand, unless experienced firsthand.”  And his own firsthand experiences are etched in his memories: “When in university, all your classmates laugh at a joke the professor tells, but you don’t understand it. Or when everyone talks about a shared experience, and you are not part of it.  And you speak of your experiences, but are not understood, and at best, it’s a strange and exotic feeling for the audience. It’s a strange, bitter feeling that I, and all immigrants and refugees, have experienced….a not being understood that’s sometimes harder than loneliness.”

In Migraaaants, this bitterness is paired with a biting humour, in the hope of awakening empathy in the audience: “If understanding and comprehending the life and past of migrants who have had a very different life and past from yours is difficult – and maybe even impossible – then understanding the pain they suffer from not being understood might be easier.” As a poet, Shabanpour feels especially keenly the pang of this inability to express oneself in the language of home. In Canada, he cannot read his poems in his own language to non-Persian-speaking friends, which distances him from poetry, about which he therefore speaks less. “This pain, alongside the visible pains, needs to be addressed,” he stresses. “These feelings are also important; sometimes, they need to be alongside all the visible pains and problems that are talked about.”

Migraaaants delivers on this objective in large part because it is not just a play: it’s an immersive, multimedia journey into the lives of asylum seekers. Through the harrowing portrayal of refugees in a boat and other dire situations, “the play strives to make the audience experience a fraction of the fear and anxiety that asylum seekers endure,” he explains. And in doing so, it dances skilfully between harsh realities and humour: “Migraaaants can make the audience laugh at times, only to present a bitter truth about the same subject just moments later – showing us how easily we sometimes laugh at things and overlook bitter truths.”

Despite the scepticism of industry colleagues, Shabanpour was determined from the start to stage Migraaaants in a prestigious downtown theatre. Most believed that a large-scale production was simply not possible. But Shabanpour was undeterred: “I was determined not to let go of the images and creativity that I had developed and lived with for all these years”. A combination of dogged determination, unrelenting perseverance and creative planning – coupled with an exceptional cast and crew – brought the play to fruition at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille without compromise. “The path was difficult, but looking back today, I feel proud that I did not lose hope,” he smiles.

This is an important play with an important call to action, Shabanpour humbly asserts. Migraaaants slows us down and pauses us . . . then asks us to consider events . . . to feel more than fleetingly upset . . . to genuinely understand. He hopes that the play will encourage people to recognize each statistic as a unique human life, with its own story of struggle and hope. “Migraaaants tries, through its chosen theatrical methods, to remind us of this reality, so that we can, to the best of our ability, do something about it. Even if our action is just a deep and genuine understanding.”

Migraaaants is on stage at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainstage until January 28, 2024. Visit ca.patronbase.com to reserve tickets online.

© Arpita Ghosal, Sesayarts Magazine, 2024