An international Prison
This Beaivváš National Sami Theatre production of Prison is truly international.
Written by a Greek playwright and directed by a Bangladeshi director, this monodrama is performed in Sami by a Finnish actress, with a projection of the text in English for the benefit of non-Sami speaking audiences (Image, photographer Johan Mathis Gaup - click on it, and a bigger appears).
Lia Karavia’s (image right, photographer Beaivváš/Mienna) autobiographical play Prison is about an individual’s struggle to survive the brutal repression of a totalitarian government. Nina in the play has been imprisoned for her thoughts and ideas, and her belief in the equality of all human beings. Her oppressors keep her in a solitary cell to break her spirit, but she continuously develops new strategies to retain her dignity and strengthen her body and mind. Nina shares the fate of countless people all over the world, but we know she will survive, thanks to her mental strength, her humour and fantasy, and her realization that no prison walls can keep the spirit imprisoned – as Nina says defiantly: “You can keep me here for ever, but my mind works, it travels, it flies!”
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