I don’t know why my Dad let me go... I was too young, too weak, to make this journey. I wouldn’t have sent me… He wouldn’t have sent me unless there was a reason.

The action-packed and highly visual How Not to Drown returns to Traverse 1 following rave reviews from audiences and critics alike during TravFest19.

In 2002, in the turmoil after the end of the Kosovan War, Dritan is sent on the notoriously perilous journey across the Adriatic with a gang of people smugglers to a new life in Europe. He relies on his young wit and charm to make it to the UK. But the fight for survival continues as he clings to his identity and sense of self when he ends up in the British care system.

Painful, yet uplifting, How Not to Drown sees Dritan and an impressive cast share his own story of endurance as a little kid who wasn’t safe or welcome anywhere in the world.

Winner: 2019 Scotsman Fringe First award
Winner: 2019 Herald Angel award
Winner: 2020 Hector McMillan Best New Scottish Play award

How Not to Drown is part of the Traverse's £1 Ticket Project.

Thursday 30 March - Post Show Discussion involving How Not To Drown creative team and cast. Join Nicola McCartney and Dritan Kastrati (Co-Writers), Neil Bettles (Director) and Daniel Cahill (Performer) to get a deeper insight to the creative process, the story, and subject matter.

The matinee performance on Saturday 1 April will be audio described.

Image: Helen Maybank, Design: Matt Hodges

Commissioned by ThickSkin and Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Supported by Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council and the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.

The Traverse Theatre is funded by Creative Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council, and has received additional support from the Scottish Government's Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund and Creative Scotland’s Recovery Fund for Cultural Organisations.

Reviews

★★★★★ ‘Brilliantly told by a cast of just five actors... truly stunning...‘ - TheScotsman

★★★★★ ‘Stunning, fluid, beautiful choreography...inspirational and moving.' -BritishTheatre.com

★★★★ ‘A highly physical, cinematically fluid and increasingly involving feat of theatrical storytelling‘ - The Times

★★★★ ‘A heroic evocation of human triumph.‘ - The Herald

★★★★ ‘A spectacular piece of theatre and personal insight into the plight of the most vulnerable‘ - Broadway Baby

★★★★ 'A theatrical event that feels like a rare privilege' - London Pub Theatre

★★★★ ‘Its power springs from its absolute authenticity... fluently and brilliantly told.’ - What's On Stage

★★★★ ‘Will leave you thinking about your own family, and how lucky you are to have a place to call home.‘ - The Wee Review

★★★★ ‘A powerful piece, made even more so by being narrated onstage by the man whose tale it is.’ - Three Weeks

★★★★ ‘It’s a touchingly bittersweet, thought-provoking close to a ripping yarn very much for our times.’ - The Arts Desk