Stille Vlucht [‘Silent Flight’]

Silent Flight is the intimate story of a young man that has to leave his country, family and culture behind for his safety. It is the autobiographical tale by actor Ali Shafiee, who fled Iran at the age of 19. The story is told completely in Dutch Sign Language, supported by a voice interpreter and subtitles in English. A range of visual tools, including dance, projections, and visual poetry, are used to spark the imagination of the audience to join Ali on this journey of his escape from Iran – leaving Tehran behind and walking across the border to Turkey, with forged papers, in the dark, searching for an unknown destination…

This poetic and visual yet raw and emotional performance will captivate audiences and is essential for those working with or interested in furthering disability awareness and accessibility, as well as giving a platform to the stories of migrants and refugees. In recent years there has been a significant increase in disability visibility, all over the world, and yet we hardly hear or see any stories of refugees with disabilities. This performance thus poses the poignant questions: what extra challenges are posed to Deaf refugees? And which obstacles might they face that hearing people may not?

The performance can be followed in Dutch sign language, spoken English and English surtitles and is accessible to deaf, hard of hearing and hearing audiences.

About

Theatre Group Signum, the Latin word for ‘sign’, is a Dutch company that make performances in which the deaf and hearing cultures are brought together. The exchanges and clashes between these two worlds provide their main sources of inspiration. Their goal is to make theatre more accessible for deaf audiences and deaf performers. Stille Vlucht, Silent Flight, is TG Signum’s latest project, performed by Ali Shafiee and Arthur Massoers (as interpreter), directed by Steef Kersbergen and project managed by Fonge Frieling.