Anatolia Speaks: touching refugee story
Photo: Candice Fiorentino
Anatolia speaks takes us back to the Bosnian conflict that took place 30 years ago. A flood of refugees was forced to leave the country at the time and find a new homeland. Many of them found home in Canada.
The story takes place in an ESL class, where Anatolia is talking to her classmates about her Canadian experience. We find out that she works at a supermarket, enjoys a welcoming, if very cold, Edmonton, and is hoping to earn more money, so that she can buy a refrigerator by summertime. But, as much as she is eager to talk about her life in Canada and about the Canadian Corporal Jason Orman, who taught the song, “You are My Sunshine”, the class is as eager to hear about her war experience. So, little by little, she starts to talk about her family – father, husband and daughter. She is an educated woman – she speaks 6 languages – who got married and has a baby girl at the age of 19. Next, we learn that her family perished, and that she left her twin boys – a result of rape that happened during the conflict – in Bosnia. As she says, she never knew what the father of her boys looked like.
The story tells a general truth about the madness of war and its consequences. Although it is well written and excellently performed by Candice Fiorentino, there are some elements that need additional work.
The story conveys the horrors of war well enough, but, since it is told as a personal experience, it should have been better researched in order to maintain authenticity. Had Brown done this, the play and its general meaning would be much more powerful. Details such as car brands – Bosnians would usually have a Golf, Renault 4, or the Yugoslav brand “Yugo” and not so often the Russian-made “Lada.” This is not only a cliché but also an incorrect assumption that any European socialist country will have firm tides with Russia – Yugoslavia was a member and founder of Nonalignment movement from mid fifties until the war in the 90s.
Anatolia says that she is a Croat, her husband was a Serb, her grandfather a Muslim. At one moment, she tells the class that her grandfather gave up his Muslim roots; since Muslim became a nationality at the beginning of seventies in Yugoslavia, Anatolia’s grandfather would still be a Muslim, just not a religious one.
Bearing in mind all these facts, the choice of names, both her sons and especially hers (Anatolia is a city in Turkey) are also very odd. Additionally, nationally mixed marriages were fairly common in Bosnia, not unusual, as she claims. To understand the extent of the tragedy and the absurdity of the conflict in Bosnia, where people once lived peacefully together, it is essential that the character (Anatolia) tells true facts about Bosnia (not any imagined or similar country).
Candice must be given full credit for her interpretation of Anatolia. Her posture and emotions were very convincing. Her accent was consistent all the way through the performance. Unfortunately, the pronunciation of Bosnian words (Srebrenica, for example) was wrong – the accent in Bosnian language is always on the first syllable. Also, the family name of the first postwar Miss Bosnia was pronounced in such a way that it was unrecognizable.
Although “Anatolia” is a play that lacks authenticity, its main message is conveyed successfully. The way it is written, t is more universal. It can refer to refugees from a wide variety of places, and the victims of war in general. It touched the audience and gave us all a lot to think about.
Produced by Poiema Productions (Edmonton)
Created and directed by Kenneth Brown
Cast
Candice Fiorentino as Anatolia