A Place of Safety. A Journey into the Central Mediterranean

Première: 27. 2. 2025, Teatro Arena del Sole, Bologna (IT)
Running time 1 hour and 50 minutes. No Intermission.
A show in Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese, with Slovenian and English surtitles

Author of concept Kepler-452
Directors and dramaturgs Nicola Borghesi, Enrico Baraldi
Text by Flavio Catalano, Miguel Duarte, Giorgia Linardi, Floriana Pati, José Ricardo Peña
Assistant director Roberta Gabriele
Set and costumes designer Alberto Favretto
Lighting designer Maria Domènech
Sound designer and composer Massimo Carozzi
Choreographic consultant Marta Ciappina
Video project Enrico Baraldi
Dramaturgy consultant Dario Salvetti

Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione (IT), Teatro Metastasio (IT), CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del Friuli Venezia Giulia (IT), Théâtre des 13 vents (FR)

In collaboration with Sea-Watch, EMERGENCY

Cast 
Nicola Borghesi, Flavio Catalano, Miguel Duarte, Giorgia Linardi, Floriana Pati, José Ricardo Peña

The Italian, Bologna-based company Kepler-452 company embarks on a search and rescue ship, the Sea-Watch 5, in the Central Mediterranean to try to understand first-hand what happens on the world’s deadliest migration route. In almost five weeks of sailing, the crew rescues 156 people, who are then disembarked in the “place of safety”, the port of La Spezia. The show is the result of field research, which began with interviews by directors Enrico Baraldi and Nicola Borghesi, continued with a residency in Lampedusa and the subsequent departure for the Mediterranean route. Along the way, the artists met operators from Life Support, the EMERGENCY ship and Sea-Watch, who became the protagonists of the play, staged with Nicola Borghesi. A Place of Safety is the story of the encounter between a theatre company and a group of people who have decided to devote part of their lives to rescue at sea, but also, and above all, a spark of attention on the collective blind spot of our Continent: what happens in the Central Mediterranean. Ultimately, it is an intimate reflection on what Europe aspires to be, what it is not, and what it could become.

The project was created with the support of the Culture Moves Europe funding scheme (European Union and Goethe-Institut) and within the framework of the Prospero NEW platform (Creative Europe programme of the European Union). The views expressed in the project do not in any way reflect the official position of the European Union.

With the support of Italian Ministry of Culture.

AWARDS
UBU Award 2025-Best theatre performance
Franco Enriquez Award for dramaturgy 2025
Le Maschere del Teatro Award for best Italian new authors 2025