Ibrahima Balde’s life story is just extraordinary on the page. Brought to life in a bestselling memoir written with Basque poet Amets Arzallus Antia, it follows his trek from Guinea, west Africa, as a teenager, across the Sahara and Mediterranean to Europe as he goes in desperate search of his runaway younger brother.
A story about the horrors of migration, it has so many gut-punch moments alongside flashes of levity that it should make for dramatic viewing on stage. Balde undergoes hunger, human trafficking, torture and ransom as well as a terrifying ocean crossing. His voice is clear, distinctive and full of natural poetry. So why does this production, adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker, who translated the book from its original Basque, feel so lifeless?
