[United Kingdom] These actors were all child refugees – and their play tells their own stories

The actors of the play Pizza Shop Heroes will travel to Malta to perform on the migration conference and share their experience with the international and national audience. For some of them this will be the first time to travel legally across borders, having arrived to UK as unaccompanied refugee minors. Without, papers, knowledge of English or experience in acting, Emirjon Hoxhaj from Albania, Goitom Fesshaye and Tewodros Aregawe from Eritrea and Syed Haleem Najibi from Afghanistan are now part of the Phosphoros Theatre Company, the only  theatre group in the UK whose members arrived as unaccompanied minors.

Their aim is to shape the narrative around refugees in Europe and change the perception domestic population has about them: “You’re not here to judge if I’m credible or not. I’m not here to make your conscience feel better. I don’t need you to feel sorry for me,” the Pizza Shop Heroes say in the play. The actors talk about their journey to the UK, and how the process of integration goes. Theatre is especially important as they have a chance to get in touch with British people. As the producer of the play explains “for a lot of unaccompanied minors, they live in accommodation where it’s just people from the unaccompanied minor community. Then in Esol [English for speakers of other languages] classes, you’re with other people who are learning English – so in terms of getting to know people who are British, there’s not loads of opportunities in those environments to make friends.” The Pizza Shop Heroes play is a third production, following Dear Home Office and Dear Home Office: Still pending narratives. The play gives them the opportunity to “take back control of his narrative” as they choose what to share and tell the story in their own way.