A shattering site-specific drama about human trafficking, has won the 2010 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
Roadkill, directed by Cora Bissett, written by Steff Smith and co-produced by the Glasgow based multi-ethnic Ankur Productions and Bissett's own Pachamama Productions, has been getting rave reviews including here on stv.tv.
Only 15 people can see it at a time as it involves a bus ride to a mystery apartment in Edinburgh's London Road. Joining the passengers are two Nigerians, one a teenage girl, the other, older, who has arranged for her to be brought to Britian and work in the sex trade. Part of the play's impact is that the young girl, chattering with childish enthusiasm for her new home, is immediately brutally raped by the men running the traficking ring on arrival at the flat.
The Amnesty award, given in assocation with The Fest magazine, goes to an outstanding play carrying a human rights message. Presenting the award at a reception event in Charlotte Square, John Watson, Amnesty International's Scotland Programme Director and one of the Award judges, said: “The judges felt that Roadkill did something that great theatre often does - shake people up. It’s a worthy winner of the award and I defy anyone to see the play and not want to do something afterwards to stop sex trafficking.
“The award encourages Fringe performers to tackle human rights issues and all of the shortlisted plays show that this can lead to some fantastic theatre. We know that the arts have a real power to engage people with difficult topics and this year’s winner does that in spades.”
Joyce McMillan, theatre critic for The Scotsman and Award judge, said: “On a Fringe not short of shows that try to explore or exploit the theme of sex-trafficking, this is the one that is beautiful, brilliant and powerful enough to break into people's hearts; and perhaps even to change their minds."
Cora Bissett, a popular figure in Scottish theatre as an actor who has recently turned to directing, said: “For the director of a play about a horrific abuse of someone’s human rights, having your work acknowledged by Amnesty International means an awful lot." She was drawn to the project after giving refuge to a trafficked girl who had managed to escape her captors.
The other shortlisted productions were Lockerbie: Unfinished Business, also much admired by stv.tv, Speechless, the extraordinary story of identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, and No Child, a one woman show written and performed by Nilaja Sun about the New York City public school system.
