from Kabul Sthlm Paris
by Kristian Hallberg
adapted and translated by Johanna Larsson
When 23,000 unaccompanied minors fled Afghanistan in 2015 to seek asylum in Sweden, Sweden’s prime minister declared: ‘My Europe doesn’t build walls, we help each other when the need is great’. However, within months this open approach was scaled back, citing the political need for some ‘breathing room’. This room would become a waiting room for asylum seekers – one in which many children would reach adulthood, thereby losing the chance to obtain residency in the country in which they had already rebuilt their lives. Upon being rejected asylum in Sweden, many of these refugees would go on to start new lives in Paris.
Based on the accounts of dozens of young people originally from Afghanistan, Kabul Sthlm Paris explores the vagaries of the European asylum process from the perspective of those who have experienced it. A collaborative, inclusive project, the play was developed in part through a course held by Angered Teater for non-professional actors of Afghan origin who wanted to get on stage and share their stories. Blending a variety of accounts with philosophical questions and themed interludes, the performance also doubles as an exhibition of photography and media, offering a multi-faceted response to the themes raised.
The result is a polyphonic, multi-media piece of documentary theatre that weaves themes of despair and conflict with those of hope and community. Shining a light on the disorienting and at times dehumanising asylum process, it lends nuance and shade to issues that are all too often described in numbers.
In this excerpt, we see the dramatized account of a young asylum seeker caught in the Swedish justice system, and the devastating consequences of the conflicting advice that he receives. The names given in brackets beside each character indicate which of the cast members plays that particular role.
from Kabul Sthlm Paris
Duration: 90 minutes
Cast size: 9 people
PROLOGUE
In 2015 Sweden’s prime minister said, ‘My Europe doesn’t build walls, we help each other when the need is great,’ when 23,000 unaccompanied children fled from Afghanistan to seek asylum in Sweden. But after that, the Swedish political need for a ‘room to breathe’ would become a waiting room for asylum seekers. In this waiting room many unaccompanied children would reach adulthood, and their chances of obtaining residence permits in Sweden would be lost. Kabul Sthlm Paris is based on the large group of unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan who have fled from Sweden and are now instead seeking asylum in France.
SCENE 2 - ABBAS (ACCOUNT FROM PARIS)
PRINCIPAL (ALEXANDRO)
We are in Sweden, the year is 2017 and I’m in my office and I’m the principal at this school, and in front of me is a guy named Abbas, correct?
ABBAS (JAVID)
Yes.
PRINCIPAL
And Abbas has been going to this school for about three years, and he’s been well behaved, has made friends and gotten good grades and learned the language, but now he’s sitting here in my office, and it’s not always a good thing when someone’s sitting in my office.
ABBAS
What should I say?
PRINCIPAL
I want him to tell me what happened. I want him to tell me the reason why he’s in my office.
ABBAS
Don’t know.
PRINCIPAL
I think you do know.
ABBAS
No.
PRINCIPAL
If I put it like this: there was a fight. It was no one’s fault but there was a fight. Between you and Henrietta and… one other person. Could you tell me about it then?
ABBAS
Because of a fucking pen?
PRINCIPAL
We need to get to the bottom of this, and maybe that’s where we should start.
ABBAS
Henrietta took my pen.
PRINCIPAL
Why did she do that?
ABBAS
It was hers.
PRINCIPAL
Why did you have her pen?
ABBAS
I asked her before.
PRINCIPAL
And then she wanted it back. And it was hers, so she got it. And that’s when there was some sort of… altercation....
ABBA
Alter… what?
PRINCIPAL
Trouble.
ABBAS
No trouble.
PRINCIPAL
That’s when something happened.
ABBAS
Okay…
PRINCIPAL
And that’s why you’re here.
ABBAS
Tell me.
PRINCIPAL
What?
ABBAS
You know more than I do, so why should I tell you? You tell me.
PRINCIPAL
A report has been filed against you, Abbas. That you ran after Henrietta and... People saw it, there are witnesses.
ABBAS
Who?
PRINCIPAL
Well, I can’t go into that –
ABBAS
I borrowed her pen and she wanted it back and she got it.
PRINCIPAL
That’s what happened?
ABBAS
That’s all that happened.
PRINCIPAL
But then why do you think you were reported?
ABBAS
Was it Johan who reported me, was it Johan?
PRINCIPAL
It’s strange that someone would go to such lengths just for the sake of a pen.
ABBAS
What lengths?
PRINCIPAL
Strange that someone would report you for such a thing. I will also be speaking to the person who reported it, of course. But now I want to talk to you.
ABBAS
What do you mean by ‘reported’?
PRINCIPAL
I think you know.
ABBAS
To the school? Did they report it just to you or is it… bigger?
PRINCIPAL
It’s a pretty serious accusation. So we’ll need to take it further once we’ve spoken to everyone, especially if your stories don’t match.
ABBAS
But I can’t, I can’t... Fuck fuck fuck.
PRINCIPAL
What are you feeling now?
ABBAS
My residence permit, I can’t get in trouble!
PRINCIPAL
No. No, you won’t.
ABBAS
I have to go for a smoke!
TEACHER (GABRIEL/FARHAD)
Now a few days have passed. It may have been a few weeks. And now I’m Abbas’s teacher. I’m sitting with him in the classroom and I say: If you ask me, you got off easy.
ABBAS
I’m going to appeal.
TEACHER
Why?
ABBAS
It’s not true, what they say.
TEACHER
I don’t think that’s a good idea. To rake it all up again. The better option would be to just accept your sentence and pay the damages and then move on and focus on school.
ABBAS
But this?
TEACHER
This, what?
ABBAS
Where does it go? The sentence, this, my crime, what I’m sentenced to.
TEACHER
Let this be a lesson instead, that you can’t behave however you want to.
ABBAS
But will I get to stay?
TEACHER
Stay?
ABBAS
Here.
TEACHER
In school?
ABBAS
In Sweden.
TEACHER
Of course. This was a minor misdemeanor, and now the matter has been investigated. I think you have more to lose by raking it up again. If you appeal, if you bring countercharges, there’s a risk that it will trigger a lot of things that will jeopardize your life here, your residence permit.
ABBAS
Okay.
TEACHER
This is part of life in Sweden. It’s a good lesson in how to behave like a Swede. You take your sentence, you accept your punishment. Then you move on with your life.
ABBAS
Now a few more days, a few weeks, a few months have passed, I don’t know what’s passed. I don’t know anything. And I’m sitting with my lawyer and she says:
LAWYER (ELIN)
Rejected. You have a criminal record. That changes everything. Now it doesn’t matter how good your grades are or how many friends you have or what kind of weekend job you have. A record is a record. And for nothing, if you ask me. I’ve read your verdict, it’s bullshit if you ask me. Had I been your lawyer then, I would have... But that’s easy to say in hindsight, now is now.
ABBAS
Can I appeal?
LAWYER
No, no, you can’t. (Pause) I don’t get why you didn’t press countercharges while it was being investigated, that could have increased your chances. It might not have changed the verdict, but the fact that you disputed the charges could have made it go another round. Maybe you wouldn’t have gotten a rejection then.
ABBAS
But they told me!
ABBAS
But they told me!
LAWYER
It seems like a lot of people have told you a lot of things. And I understand that it feels unfair. But if you sit down we’ll…
ABBAS
I have to go.
LAWYER
Wait, where are you going?
ABBAS
I have to get out, I have to leave, I have to... I have to go.
Kabul Sthlm Paris
Premiere: November 2023, Angered Theatre at Kulturhuset Blå Stället, Gothenburg
We are grateful to Angered Theatre, Kristian Hallberg and Johanna Larsson for permission to publish this translated excerpt.
Actors: Abo Wejdan, Alexandro Soltani, Alireza Masomi (Haydar), Elin Bornell, Farhad Mohammadi, Farid Tajik, Gabriel Ibrahimi, Javid Davoudi & Otto Båth.
Playwright: Kristian Hallberg; Director: Johanna Larsson; Scenographer & Costume designer: Linda Wallgren; Composer: Kristina Issa; Assistant artistic team: Alireza Naghavi; Choreographer: Fredrika Byman Moberg; Technician & co-creator: Otto Båth; Drama pedagogues: Erika Modén & Mina Nadolski Friberg; Migration legal advisor: Tinna Wejstål & Photographer: Nadim Elazzeh.
Kristian Hallberg is a dramatist with over twenty plays to his name. He is co-artistic director at Månteatern theatre in Lund.
Angered Theatre was founded in 1978 and is an independent theatre situated in the suburb of Gothenburg. The theatre produces high-quality contemporary performing arts (for children, youths and adults) with an international and local touch. A common thread in its artistic direction is to work with the residents of Angered, using authentic stories as starting points.