How Not to Drown at Theatre Royal Stratford East

The dark and tense true story of a young boy coming to England takes the stage at Theatre Royal Stratford East. How Not to Drown, by Nicola McCartney and Dritan Kastrati, is Kastrati’s real-life experience of being an 11-year-old asylum seeker making a perilous journey from Albania to the UK, only to end up in the UK’s foster system and face more difficulties. A cast of just five, including Kastari himself, tell the whole story, switching roles and covering all the people in his life growing up, such as family, friends, mafia smugglers, other asylum seekers, social workers, teachers, foster parents and so on.

Kastrati’s story is absolutely gripping. And while we’re seeing more and more stories around asylum-seekers and foster care struggles arrive across different media, seeing the two together certainly offers an interesting perspective that is rarely shown. It’s not just foster care but foster care with a language and culture barrier, a child who can’t communicate with those who are supposed to be caring for him, unable to express his feelings and unable to tell them what he needs. On the other hand, there is a lot going on for just 90 minutes, with the play trying to incorporate a new major theme every five to ten minutes. A bit more focus to strengthen the core of this play could really send the emotional resonance into overdrive.

The production values are excellent. In one sense, it feels stripped back: there aren’t masses of complicated props or intricate costumes. But the detail of the craft on display is obvious. The stage is simple yet dramatic. The movement is down-to-earth yet thrilling. The lighting is perfectly atmospheric. ThickSkin, the theatre company behind How Not to Drown, really deserves a lot of credit for bringing together such a complete creative team with such a strong unified vision. Overall, How Not to Drown is a thrilling story well told.

Jim Compton-Hall

How Not to Drown is at Theatre Royal Stratford East from 26^th January until 11^th February 2023. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.