…an ambitious and promising first outing.
Meteatra’s debut, BORDERS: Digital, Political, Emotional at the Arcola Theatre, is an ambitious and promising first outing, aiming to bridge London and Istanbul through six short plays by competition winners Aine King, Andrew Lawston, Banu Şenel, Salman Siddiqi, Erdoğan Soytürk, and Tamara von Werthern. The evening hits some truly powerful emotional peaks and offers genuine insight into the experiences of immigrants – the struggles, the risks, and the search for a place to belong. While not every scene lands perfectly, the performances and ideas on stage show real heart and commitment.
There’s a lot of sharp irony running through the night. In one piece, we’re reminded how people rally to save a panda but struggle to show the same care for human lives. Ates Togrul and İrem Cavusoglu bring the scene to life, highlighting the contrast between concern for animals and neglect for people in need. That irony continues in Andrew Lawston’s Guess Who’s Computing to Dinner, where Matthew Hodson plays the AI robot John Murdoch. The scene is funny, cringey, and pointed: while everyone seems to worry about immigrants “taking our jobs,” it’s actually the machines and technology we’ve built ourselves that are the real threat. Some comedic beats shine brilliantly, though the pacing wobbles slightly at times.
Mutfak, Göç ve Boncuk was a personal favourite. Performed in Turkish with English surtitles, it centres on Boncuk, played with warmth and subtle humour by Koray Can Yanasik. They are a flirty, playful cooking staff member, but it’s clear that the charm is partly protective – a way to be liked, to stay safe, and get through a job where “they won’t treat me nice.” Occasionally, actors stepped in front of the projection wall, causing a few lines to be lost, but the emotional impact remained strong.
Later pieces tackle identity, courage, and human vulnerability. Openly Muslim follows Inayat Kanji’s protagonist navigating microaggressions from Charlotte Reidie’s journalist and John Gregor as the boss, showing the cost of standing by your beliefs when a post about Gaza draws complaint. Aine King’s Sea Monsters delivers raw emotion as Serpil Delice portrays a young person on a desperate journey alongside John Gregor and Matthew Hodson, contrasting the risks on the boats with the cold detachment of those on shore. The final piece, One of Them by Tamara von Werthern, performed by Ece Ozdemiroglu, is honest and reflective, at times heartbreakingly so, offering quiet, lingering moments. Together, these works hit hard, even if some writing felt slightly long-winded and pacing uneven in places.
All in all, Borders is a thoughtful and heartfelt start for Meteatra. The writing isn’t always perfectly polished, and a few moments stumble, but the performances are strong, the themes important, and the emotional resonance lasting. It doesn’t always come together seamlessly, but it’s an ambitious, human-centred evening that stays with you long after you leave the theatre.