Founder of LegalAliens Theatre, Lara Parmiani tells us why she set up the migrant-led ensemble/its spin-off the Tottenham Project, and explains the ethos behind her latest directorial effort, Ali in Wonder(Eng)land.
You can see Ali in Wonder(Eng)land at Jacksons Lane in Highgate this July. Image: Kuan Ying Chou
I arrived in London from Italy in the late 90s, a very young woman in love with theatre.
Migration is in my history. My mum's family had moved from Southern to Northern Italy after the second World War. They were mocked for their accents and called names. My paternal grandmother was a Holocaust survivor from Hungary. I left Italy because of the open misogyny. London felt like the centre of the universe: diverse, open and buzzing.
What surprised me was theatre. In the streets of London, especially in Haringey where I lived, I heard every language and accent. On stage, everyone sounded the same. As an actor I was treated as an exotic curiosity, offered roles as pizza cooks and prostitutes. As a theatre-maker pitching projects, emails remained unanswered. I had no network, no support. But I knew many others like me. We talked about the theatre we wanted to make, about who we were. Not "international artists" passing by. We lived here, paid taxes, built lives, struggled. We were migrant artists.
