The Wetsuitman

By Freek Mariën
Translated by David McKay

Volume 8, Issue 4 (Fall 2021)

The playwright, Freek Mariën, writes, “A few years ago I read ‘The Wetsuitman,’ an article by the Norwegian journalist Anders Fjellberg about two refugees who tried to swim from Calais to England and were washed ashore in Norway and the Netherlands. I couldn’t get the article out of my head, where it got tangled up with other stories, frustrations, and observations about identity, all of which resulted in this play. Several people I met also had a crucial influence: I’m thinking in particular of the young Afghan Nazilla and her father, the Syrian author Maria, and many others I met while writing in Calais, Dover, or right here in Belgium. This is not documentary theater. I took the liberty of combining stories, departing from true events, and making some things up entirely. None of that makes the issues raised in this play any less real.”

The Wetsuitman premiered in the Dutch language on March 22, 2019, in DE Studio in Antwerp, with a cast of three. Robbert Vervloet (a Jewish Belgian with a Near Eastern appearance) played Magnussen, the coroner/forensic pathologist, a salesperson, the lifeguard, the policeman, the hacker, the customs official, the interpreter, and the brother. Maxime Waladi (a tall, half-Moroccan Belgian) played a Norwegian police inspector, the mother of a French diver, the beachcomber, another salesperson, the researcher, the spokesperson, the aid worker, and the father. Yinka Kuitenbrouwer (a blond Dutchwoman with a Belgian passport) played an architect, Hustvedt, the French diver, the beach bar proprietor, the young woman from the tourist office, yet another salesperson, the shop manager, Nadine, a refugee, and a mother. The playwright, Freek Mariën, was also the director; Ruth Mariën was the dramaturg, and Carl von Winckelmann acted (Fall 2021) as coach; all three play central roles in Freek Mariën’s Mechelen-based theater company Het Kwartier, which co-produced The Wetsuitman with the Mechelen Cultural Center. A video recording of this production informed my English translation, but the play also lends itself to very different interpretations—for instance, a much larger cast is possible.

I first approached Freek in the summer of 2020 about translating one of his earlier plays, Waiting and Other Heroic Acts. What fascinated me about Freek’s writing was his ability to use formal playfulness, memorable characters, and linguistic ingenuity to shed new light on complex social issues. Freek asked me to consider translating The Wetsuitman, and I soon saw that it combined the strengths of the earlier play with a remarkably compelling story and a unique narrative structure in which successive layers peel away like an onion, bringing us ever closer to the emotional core. Not only were Freek and I fortunate to receive financial support from Flanders Literature, but in an incredible stroke of luck, I also had the chance to participate in the first online edition of the Foreign Affairs Theatre Translation mentorship, organized by the Foreign Affairs theatre company in London. This translation is deeply indebted to the inspiration provided by the company’s founders, Camila França and Trine Garrett, as well as the feedback and input from the mentors, Paul Garrett, William Gregory, and Charis Ainslie, and the support and enthusiasm of my fellow participants.

Two English-language productions of The Wetsuitman are planned for 2022, one by Foreign Affairs and the other by the Cherry Arts in Ithaca, New York.

Freek Mariën is an author and playwright and the artistic director of the Belgian theatre company Het Kwartier. His plays are read and performed in Flanders and the Netherlands, and his work is published in the German-speaking world by Verlag der Autoren. His productions are characterized by socially relevant themes, compelling narratives, distinctive voices, and unexpected forms. His awards for his playwriting include the international Kaas&Kappes prize, the East Flanders Literary Prize and the Toneelschrijfprijs for the best Dutch-language play. His recent plays include two 2021 Dutch-language premieres: Een of andere Rus (“Some Russian or Other”) and De gemoederen (“Uproar”). Dramaturg Peter Anthonissen writes, “Mariën is the embodiment of what a contemporary playwright in Flanders can be. … His plays display an extraordinary sensitivity to language and form, while expressing a profound connection to human beings and our world and an ever-growing sense of engagement.”

David McKay translates plays, novels, short stories, a wide range of non-fiction, and poetry. His work has been described as “dazzlingly lyrical” (Neel Mukherjee, The Guardian). He is the ALTA Dutch-English mentor for 2021. He received the Vondel Prize for his translation of War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, which was also nominated for the Man Booker Prize International and shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award. His co-translation of the Dutch anti-colonialist classic Max Havelaar was shortlisted for the Oxford Weidenfeld Prize 2020, and in 2021 he received one of Cornell University’s inaugural ICM Global South Translation Fellowships for his translation of Anton de Kom’s classic anti-colonial manifesto We Slaves of Suriname, to be published by Polity Press in 2022. In 2020 and 2021, he translated the Flemish plays The Wetsuitman, HIDE, Platina, and Antigone in Molenbeek and the Dutch play The Polish Bride. He has just completed his translation of a second play by Freek Mariën.

The Wetsuitman

By Freek Mariën

Translated by David McKay

This play was inspired by actual events. Characters have been merged, timelines streamlined, names changed, and gaps filled. For three to twenty-eight performers.

1. THE INVESTIGATION

norway

architect

westerman

magnussen

pathologist

medical examiner

hustvedt

mother

french diver

ARCHITECT

i’m an elderly architect

i live near the edge of the village

on the coast

there’s a fjord

or that’s how I picture it anyway

we’re in norway

it’s morning

i can picture the morning light

low sun

mist

and i’m walking the dog

i have a dog

a labrador

a terrier

not really sure

doesn’t really matter

i’m an old man with a dog

and I’m walking the dog on the coast

that much I know

i’m walking the dog

and my dog is barking

there’s no leash

there’s big rocks

a cliff

and a black spot

out there in the distance

not normally there

at first I think

it’s oil

I think

I think the first thing I think of is oil

it happens now and then

with all the ships here

drilling platforms

birds get stuck

and I keep walking

my dog’s still barking

he’s near the black spot

heading straight for the oil

so i leave the path

if there’s a path

if there is a path

I leave the path

and i get closer

and see that the black spot’s

a wetsuit

so I think

could come in handy

not that I dive

i have gone diving

i think

otherwise I wouldn’t think

could come in handy

i’ve reached the wetsuit now

there’s a flipper next to it

my dog barks

and snaps at the flipper

and I pull him away

and the flipper comes with him

he’s got the flipper with him

in his teeth

and he drops it

and I flinch

and he barks

and I stop him

cause he’s straining forward

and I kneel

and sticking out of it

are bones

WESTERMAN

inspector westerman

pleased to meet you

you called

ARCHITECT

that’s inspector westerman

WESTERMAN

i’m inspector westerman

fifty years old

still fit as a fiddle

married

two children

one all grown up

the other still at home

sons

anthropology

and criminology

in the old man’s footsteps

that’s how I see it

I have a case

that won’t let go of me

a missing girl

ten years ago

or eleven

nine maybe

not a round number

dumped on the beach

not far from here

raped

barbed wire around her neck

never found a suspect

no one saw a thing

just a black car

with an open trunk

and the engine running

and no plates

and it keeps me awake nights

the drinking

the case

and I see her face in front of me

and I feel that barbed wire

and a moustache

I may have a moustache

yeah

I’ll have a moustache

that’s how it’s done

the inspector has a moustache

ARCHITECT

follow me

WESTERMAN

so I follow him

ARCHITECT

we go down the path

WESTERMAN
if there is a path

ARCHITECT

and we reach the wetsuit

WESTERMAN
i look around

the wetsuit’s in a kind of bay

a cove

let’s say a cove

takes an awfully high tide

to rise this far

high winds yesterday

did the water reach this high?

the fin’s lying next to the wetsuit

must have come off

can’t see the face

just a wisp of dark hair

or is it seaweed?

i call the medical examiner

the diver is dead

that couldn’t be more obvious

but rules are rules

only a doctor can make it official

i put on my plastic gloves

do i take photos?

ARCHITECT

you take photos

MAGNUSSEN

how about me?

ARCHITECT

later for you

MAGNUSSEN

maybe i’m already here

maybe i’m the one taking the photos

i’m magnussen

pleased to meet you

i’m the intern

criminology

i remind you of your son

i mostly just follow you around

work through some files

and this is my first case

my first body

stay professional

I think

I think that’s what I think

WESTERMAN

so you take the photos

MAGNUSSEN

with numbers

i put those little numbers next to them

they use those numbers right?

WESTERMAN

right

MAGNUSSEN

and i’m nervous about getting up close

excited but scared

one leg is missing

i wander away from the body

westerman!

WESTERMAN

what is it uh

searches for the name

MAGNUSSEN

magnussen

WESTERMAN

magnussen yeah

MAGNUSSEN

there are bones here too

WESTERMAN

i join him

little bones

like shards of bone

a few meters away

MAGNUSSEN

here too

those little numbers

plastic baggies

plastic gloves

ARCHITECT

and i’m right here with you

WESTERMAN

or maybe over there

this is a crime scene

MAGNUSSEN

i’ve roped it off

WESTERMAN

with crime scene tape

red and white

or blue and white

yellow and black

police line it says

do not cross

or crime scene

or something norwegian

ARCHITECT

and i’m right behind you

WESTERMAN

or maybe back at home

nice house you got

architect

ARCHITECT

i make tea

i’m trembling

and someone takes my statement

WESTERMAN

here comes the medical examiner

MEDICAL EXAMINER/PATHOLOGIST

norway is a country made for

accidents

we have cliffs

storms

big ships

big rocks

all those people

on drilling platforms

and god-knows-where up in the arctic

we freeze to death

we’ve got train crashes

plane crashes

shipwrecks

terrorists

and remember half the time

this is in total darkness

so whatever can break down

will break down

and if no one else does it to us

we do it to ourselves

norway

land of alcoholism and suicide

it’s not what the brochures say

but it’s true

we beat the world in drinking and depression

we beat each other to pulp in the darkness

drunk and depressed

we fall off cliffs

that’s if we don’t get blown up

flattened

sucked into a propeller

which is all just to say

we’re the best at identifying bodies

got it down to a science

give me a body

i’ll give you a name

i’m the medical examiner

and also the pathologist

i smell like formaldehyde

and have a hard time getting into relationships

because women seem to think

those hands of his

were just inside a corpse

WESTERMAN

what was the cause of death?

PATHOLOGIST

no signs of injury

from propeller blades

no stab wounds

no gunshots

WESTERMAN

so he drowned

PATHOLOGIST

WESTERMAN

he didn’t drown

PATHOLOGIST

maybe

WESTERMAN

did he drown or not?

PATHOLOGIST

there are no visible injuries

on the remains that were found

WESTERMAN

oh come on

give me something solid

PATHOLOGIST

the body was lying in the water

cold salt water

in a wetsuit

at this point my friend

solid is not the word for it

WESTERMAN

but can you rule out foul play?

PATHOLOGIST

i couldn’t even tell you

if he’s been dead three days or three weeks

WESTERMAN

so i have to try to figure out who did this?

PATHOLOGIST

i don’t even have the whole body

the salt’s eaten into everything

i can’t take fingerprints

can’t even use the teeth

for identification I mean

WESTERMAN

so you found nothing?

PATHOLOGIST

tell you what

i’ll leave my lunchbox

underwater

in a bathtub

chuck in a couple of sacks of salt

and after a week you can tell me

what I was going to have for lunch

WESTERMAN

I get it

PATHOLOGIST

DNA

that’s all we have

DNA
and that wetsuit

HUSTVEDT

what can we tell

from the wetsuit?

i’m on the case now

hustvedt

head of missing persons

i’m taking over the investigation

bald spot

big mustache

clenching a cigarette in my gold teeth

WESTERMAN

isn’t that kind of

over the top?

HUSTVEDT

no seriously

the whole top row

don’t know about the bottom

MAGNUSSEN

but why?

HUSTVEDT

don’t know

maybe I was on duty

shadowing someone

someone who knocked out my teeth

I was on the ground

bleeding

just had time to shoot him in the legs

or maybe my mother

used to smoke

and fed me candy and lemonade

all day long

if she fed me at all

and drank too much

she drank too much

and come to think of it

maybe she didn’t smoke

but she neglected me

and I grew up

with gangs

and small-time crooks

but I pulled myself up

out of that world

and now I chase the criminals

and I went to the dentist

for the very first time

and said

do the whole thing in gold

so they can see

so they see

that I’m out

that I’m flush

or something

WESTERMAN

HUSTVEDT

and maybe i visit my mother

once in a while

and i think she’s not proud of me

but disappointed

and i don’t know why

or maybe i do

maybe it feels to her like betrayal

my gold teeth

and every smile

reminds her of her failings

did i have to cover the rotting stumps

with all that flashy gold?

MAGNUSSEN

so what does this have to do with the case?

HUSTVEDT

you know

I thought

backstory

beat

so what can we tell

from the wetsuit?

WESTERMAN

it’s a dark gray wetsuit

five millimeters thick

neo… (searching for the word)

MAGNUSSEN

neoprene

WESTERMAN

with a hood

or whatever they call it on a wetsuit

size medium

sold for around eighty euros

tribord

that’s the brand name

a men’s wetsuit

almost forgot to mention

it’s the model for men

HUSTVEDT

so what we have here is probably a man

WESTERMAN

good reviews

value for money

but never mind that

a few logos on the label

all washed off in the salt water

it says

tribord

laundering instructions

do not launder under any circumstances

a square with some wifi symbol

scissors with a dotted line

made in thailand

designed for diving and snorkeling

HUSTVEDT

a male diver

good

anything else?

WESTERMAN

yeah uh

nods at magnussen

MAGNUSSEN

magnussen

WESTERMAN

yeah

MAGNUSSEN

yeah

i got in touch with the manufacturer

they’ve been making this model since 2012

size medium means the chest size

from ninety-two to ninety-five centimeters

HUSTVEDT

male diver

on the slender side

who bought the wetsuit some time since 2012

WESTERMAN

or maybe

it was a gift

beat

HUSTVEDT

right…

any other leads anyone?

MAGNUSSEN

i looked into those bones

i found nearby

HUSTVEDT

and?

MAGNUSSEN

still waiting

for the lab results

WESTERMAN

we spoke to the neighbors

most never went to the place

or rarely

the last time anyone had been there

was two days before he was found

a young woman

says she went walking there

and didn’t see anything

HUSTVEDT

so we have a time frame

MAGNUSSEN

another neighbor

the day before he was found

saw a black car

with its engine running

as close to that spot

as a person can drive

and it didn’t have plates

an older model of SUV

she didn’t see anyone around

no one coming or going

HUSTVEDT

magnussen

tell the pathologist

to hurry up

with those bones

and ask the neighbors

about black suvs

in the area

westerman

get a list of missing persons

see if that leads anywhere

WESTERMAN

to the audience

that must be more or less what happened

HUSTVEDT

something’s wrong

WESTERMAN

what?

HUSTVEDT

that diving suit

it’s all wrong

MAGNUSSEN

what’s wrong with it?

HUSTVEDT

you two ever gone diving?

MAGNUSSEN

together?

WESTERMAN

HUSTVEDT
ever wear a wetsuit like that?

MAGNUSSEN

once

or twice

on vacation

rafting

surfing

last time i went to portugal

HUSTVEDT

it’s too thin

MAGNUSSEN

i didn’t notice

HUSTVEDT
good enough for portugal

but the north sea?

five millimeters

it’s five millimeters thick

WESTERMAN

help me out here

HUSTVEDT

five millimeters

so thin you can almost see the goosebumps

that’s fine

when the water’s sixteen degrees

but i’ve lived on the coast a long time here

and the water hardly ever

hits fifteen degrees

when you found him

that day

it was ten degrees

silence

MAGNUSSEN

maybe a day or two earlier

HUSTVEDT

the day the sea reaches sixteen degrees here

is the day you stop going to portugal

for your beach vacation

our guy knew nothing about the north sea

our guy was an amateur

you cannot dive in that wetsuit

not around here

WESTERMAN

the dna came in

HUSTVEDT

and?

WESTERMAN

it got here last night

i ran it through the database right away

stayed up all night waiting

but

nothing

HUSTVEDT

not a single match?

WESTERMAN

i guess no one reported him missing

HUSTVEDT

no one?

WESTERMAN

i checked the neighboring countries too

silence

HUSTVEDT

we’ll send out a black notice

WESTERMAN

interpol?

HUSTVEDT

the whole world will see it

send some photos along

a description

somebody must know who the diver was

WESTERMAN

yeah

maybe

MAGNUSSEN

here’s something

a frenchman

just reported as missing

by his mother

lost at sea

young

slender

male

HUSTVEDT

get the dna and compare

MAGNUSSEN

already did

WESTERMAN

and?

MAGNUSSEN

waiting for the lab

HUSTVEDT

did you talk to the mother?

MAGNUSSEN

even better

HUSTVEDT

the mother?

MOTHER

one sec

yeah

he’s always pulling crazy stunts

hitchhiking with truckers

throwing darts with a blindfold

jumping off cliffs

i always tell him

you’ll get yourself in trouble one day

good head of dark hair

like me

i’ll send you a photo

anyway

he always looks

as if he just came out of the thrift shop

but i guess that’s hip these days

he goes away a lot

but he always lets me know where he is

or at least

if i call and ask him where he is

he tells me

but now he’s not even getting my messages

otherwise he’d let me know

“this place is amazing

i’m sleeping on the beach”

doesn’t scare him

every summer

right out on the beach

oh yeah

something else

he had his diving suit with him

in his backpack

he planned to go diving

MAGNUSSEN

commander

HUSTVEDT

commissioner

MAGNUSSEN

commissioner

HUSTVEDT

yes

MAGNUSSEN

that wetsuit keeps getting weirder

i got in touch with the manufacturer

about the socks he had on

HUSTVEDT

what about his socks?

MAGNUSSEN

they told me they’re for synchronized swimming

HUSTVEDT

for what?

the telephone rings

HUSTVEDT

hustvedt

luster police station

no comment

ms nilsen

the investigation’s in progress

and as long as it’s in progress

my lips are sealed

and so should yours be

what do you mean already online?

he hangs up

MAGNUSSEN

what?

HUSTVEDT

who leaked?

WESTERMAN

nobody

MAGNUSSEN

i didn’t do anything

HUSTVEDT

how else could they know all this?

westerman looks at hustvedt’s phone

WESTERMAN
french diver washes up on norwegian coast

HUSTVEDT

what must his poor mother be thinking?

what kind of person would inform the press?

amateurs

just suppose

you’re a family member

and you read in the paper

that he was found dead

washed up in some norwegian backwater

it’ll make people furious

at us

at the police

MAGNUSSEN

and well they should be

HUSTVEDT

sometimes

sometimes we don’t move fast enough

but sometimes the papers are a little too fast

they jump to conclusions

we can’t be sure about

WESTERMAN

who’s going to call the mother?

MAGNUSSEN

what’ll we tell her?

HUSTVEDT

that we’re on the case

too early to say

that we’re still waiting

for DNA

WESTERMAN

and sorry

tell her sorry

MAGNUSSEN

so I—

fine

magnussen calls

FRENCH DIVER

bonjour

MAGNUSSEN

good afternoon

this is magnussen

of the norwegian police

is mrs—

FRENCH DIVER

i heard you were looking for me

MAGNUSSEN
excuse me?

FRENCH DIVER

i was just about to call

MAGNUSSEN

who is this?

FRENCH DIVER

so i get home

and the newspapers

tell me i’m dead

MAGNUSSEN

i don’t follow

FRENCH DIVER

i ran into some norwegians

we went out in their boat

and my phone fell in the water

i was doing this trick I know

but the boat was too wobbly

anyway

went away for one week

never thought there would be such a panic

i’m always pulling crazy stunts

hangs up

MAGNUSSEN

it was the french diver

silence

westerman throws the file to the ground

HUSTVEDT

it’s just another case

WESTERMAN

right

HUSTVEDT

westerman

go home

PATHOLOGIST

westerman

about those bones near the body

WESTERMAN

finally

come on

something solid?

PATHOLOGIST

you bet

a fox

and a few small rodents

WESTERMAN
you call that solid?

PATHOLOGIST

the lemmus lemmus

the vulpes vulpes

and the rattus rattus

to be exact

westerman is drinking

magnussen enters

westerman hides the bottle

WESTERMAN

still at work uh…

MAGNUSSEN

magnussen

WESTERMAN

right

MAGNUSSEN

the forms for my internship

I’m almost done

silence

could i have a sip?

the bottle comes back out

they drink

everything OK?

WESTERMAN

the bones led nowhere

the frenchman led nowhere

and that dna won’t get us anywhere either

i don’t even know what we’re looking for anymore

a wetsuit that’s too thin

socks for synchronized swimming

one leg

gone

and no one even bothered

to report him missing

MAGNUSSEN

i was thinking

we may be overlooking things

cause we keep calling him a diver

WESTERMAN

what?

MAGNUSSEN

we have no idea

what he was doing in the water

surfing diving jet skiing rafting

for all we know the guy was playing polo

WESTERMAN

so what do you want us to call him?

MAGNUSSEN

the wetsuitman

WESTERMAN

laughs

the wetsuitman

MAGNUSSEN

what’s so funny?

WESTERMAN

sounds like a superhero

MAGNUSSEN

whose special power is synchronized swimming

WESTERMAN

right

they laugh

the wetsuitman

MAGNUSSEN

and whenever there’s trouble

he changes into his wetsuit

WESTERMAN

and it takes forever

with that fucking neo-whatever

MAGNUSSEN

neoprene

WESTERMAN
so he’s always too late

maybe that’s why he drowned

he was there on the beach

putting on his wetsuit

to save the world

when the tide came in

MAGNUSSEN

or maybe he had a sidekick

to help him with his wetsuit

WESTERMAN

say that again

MAGNUSSEN

maybe he didn’t put it on himself

maybe someone else—

WESTERMAN

interrupting

shhhhh

silence

what if he didn’t drown

MAGNUSSEN
what do you mean?

WESTERMAN

we have to find that black SUV

hustvedt joins them

WESTERMAN

hustvedt

it’s about time

HUSTVEDT

so what’s the big deal

at this time of the morning?

WESTERMAN

listen

magnussen?

MAGNUSSEN

nine years ago

there was a big black car

with the trunk open

and the engine running

WESTERMAN
my old case

MAGNUSSEN
his old case

and now the neighbors

see a black SUV

in the same spot

WESTERMAN
two sightings

two bodies

HUSTVEDT

you think it was murder

MAGNUSSEN

we can’t rule it out

HUSTVEDT

so what about the diving suit?

WESTERMAN

doesn’t make much sense does it

too thin

the wrong socks

it’s a put-up job

maybe they even put him in the wetsuit afterwards

MAGNUSSEN

just like the barbed wire

HUSTVEDT

what?

WESTERMAN
my old case

she wasn’t strangled with barbed wire

they wound it around her neck

afterwards

silence

HUSTVEDT

ok westerman

put in a request for those old files

and see what else matches

magnussen

get a list of norwegians

with a criminal record

and a black SUV

everyone leaps into action

the telephone rings

magnussen picks up

MAGNUSSEN
yes?

hello?

what?

magnussen hangs up

interpol

WESTERMAN

our black notice?

HUSTVEDT

a dna match after all?

MAGNUSSEN

HUSTVEDT

what is it then?

MAGNUSSEN

forget that black car

it was the netherlands

they found another guy in a wetsuit

2. THE INTERVIEW

the netherlands and france

beach bar owner (a woman)

salesperson

beachcomber

police officer

tourism officer (a young woman)

scientist

lifeguard

second salesperson

corporate spokesperson

hacker

third salesperson

branch manager

customs officer

nadine

BEACH BAR OWNER

you’re not recording yet

are you?

yeah

well

right

go ahead

SALESPERSON

what?

no I’d rather not

uh yeah

yes

but

thing is

ma’am

we’ve been told

not to talk to journalists

but i’m happy to answer all your questions

about clothes and sports equipment

i can’t comment on that

i’d like to comment

but my only comment

is that right now i have no comment

wish i could comment

BEACH BAR OWNER

so i was out running

like i do every morning

i have a bar here on the beach

lots of deep fried stuff

but i watch my figure

you know

so i was out running

you see

and um

i go out early

we serve breakfast right

so i have to be back in time

but that morning

i didn’t even open the bar

the diving suit was half inside out

you could still see some hair

dark hair

and the skin

well um

did you see the photos of that

bridget jones woman

renée

renée zellweger?

that facelift that went wrong

or botox

or whatever it was

like a swelled-up chicken breast

sort of

so i live above the bar

and from the window I could see the police

they took photos

put a tent over it

made it look kind of

romantic all of a sudden

like a camping trip

but

they had to work fast

cause the tide was rising

they had a stretcher

so i’m watching the whole thing

and the whole time

i’m saying to myself

i found a body

when my girlfriend gets home

i hadn’t warned her or anything

just didn’t think of it

just wasn’t thinking

that day

so anyway

she couldn’t help laughing

cause there’s me sitting

squatting really

in my running shorts

and sneakers

and um

you know

glued to the window

my head under the curtain

i’ll take that glass of water now please

can’t even believe i was the first one there

it was well after high tide

and the beachcombers

they’re always right on it

to see what got washed up

whoever gets there first

finds the most stuff

they’ve got their metal detectors

those bags on their belts

for their finds

they find nice things sometimes

i don’t know why they hadn’t got there yet

or didn’t call or whatever

ever since then

when i go running

i take a detour

crazy i know

but what it does to you

it’s so real

you have no idea

cause there’s death

all up in your face

right where you sell french fries

BEACHCOMBER

we don’t steal from the dead

ms nilsen

not unless they’ve been dead

for a couple of centuries

i have a case in the museum here

where we display our finds

they go back to 1146

part of a crossbow

the only one in the netherlands

with its trigger still intact

not everything comes from the beach

but even so

i asked willy

he’s a lawyer

another member of our association

we’re exploring our options

legal options

treating us like suspects

because that’s how it feels

when so often we can

we’ve been known to help

it makes me sick

everything we do

we do out of respect for history

you write that down

we shed light on history

we bring it to life

we have our own fucking spot

in the museum

so why would we ever

falsify history?

but that’s what this is

these accusations

the police showing up to talk to me

me!

the police!

asking all kinds of questions

about my profession

about my friends

about my colleagues

embarrassing

that’s what it is

embarrassing

so that’s what i told them

and then i told them

our conversation was over

we have an association here

we have principles

and new things

are the least important things of all to us

that’s all i have to say

POLICE OFFICER

annette right?

thing is

annette

in my long career

been around for a while now

dead people

’kay?

they wash up

from all over the channel

from england scotland belgium

france germany

you name it

from here in holland

holland of course

what caught my eye

annette

was the hair

most people round here

don’t have such dark hair

so we thought tourists

spain portugal

that direction

that could explain the wetsuit

the water’s warmer there

TOURISM OFFICER

we’ve observed that the netherlands

continues to grow in popularity

as a tourist destination

the largest numbers of tourists come from germany

great britain

belgium

and the united states of america

but recently we’ve observed a sharp rise

in southern european visitors

spain portugal and italy

have discovered the netherlands

and especially

the dutch coast

now of course

this hasn’t just come out of nowhere

for a number of years now

we’ve been investing in training programs

so we can now offer

professional instruction

so say for example you’d like to learn to sail

this place is a paradise

and we have so much more to offer

like our Frisian islands

and some top international museums

a few real gems believe me

and completely aside from that

when we ask

people tell us

that our image as a tolerant country

in other words our laws on

drug use

prostitution

and homosexuality

are the decisive factor

for certain demographics

to choose the netherlands for their getaway

SCIENTIST

well

here’s how it works

you’re recording now right?

a body in open water can drift

a long long way

first the body sinks

then it starts to decompose

gas builds up

and it rises again

and once it’s on the surface

all sorts of factors come into play

wind

the currents

nearby vessels

now

here in the north sea

as a general rule

a deceased individual would tend to move

in a northwesterly direction

now of course

all i can tell you is

how bodies move

i can’t begin to tell you

what moves people

who dies at sea

or who goes to sea

to die

LIFEGUARD

more and more people do it

drinking and diving

like drinking and driving

and just as dangerous

especially in weather like this

you don’t feel the cold

and of course

you think you’re up to it

Dutch courage

you know that expression?

“i’ll just swim out to that island there”

“i’ll just swim down to the ocean floor”

and before you know it

you’re on a one-way dive

a lot of times

i pull people out of the water

with hypothermia

and i can’t even tell

if they’re talking that way

because their teeth are chattering

or because they’ve been drinking

and they stumble around

so we wrap them up

in a shiny blanket

and tell them to keep the blanket on

keep moving

if they can

you don’t really want to have to

pull anyone out of the water

what you’d really like

is for everyone

to make it to shore on their own

grab a towel

dry themselves off

and if they’re in no condition

what I mean is

there must have been people

who could have told them not to

who could have stopped them

who could have said

bad idea

don’t do it

too cold

too deep

too far

yes it looks so close

but you’ll never make it

ANOTHER SALESPERSON

i uh

i’m not supposed to

POLICE OFFICER

no fingerprints

no papers

no signs of past injuries

the teeth were useless

that wetsuit was all we had

nothing else

so we retraced our steps

and then suddenly

annette

suddenly we couldn’t help thinking

about one of those logos

on the wetsuit

a square with little squiggles on the top

like a wifi symbol

CORPORATE SPOKESPERSON

ever since the roll-out earlier this year

eighty-five percent of our products

have been equipped with an rfid tag

this is how our company

is staying at the forefront

of digital evolution

these chips will facilitate distribution

with what we call a shower scan

we can check the whole warehouse inventory

in minutes

and unlike

the previous generation of anti-theft chips

these rfid tags don’t have to be removed

so our customers can enjoy

a speedier check-out

responding to a question

yes?

the tag never has to be deactivated

as soon as the system has registered your item

as sold

you can walk straight out the door with it

no one will stop you

the tag requires no electrical supply or batteries

so we can assure concerned customers

that it’s washing machine safe

yes that’s right

but we don’t see any cause for concern

about customer privacy

i’m afraid i’m unable

to go into technical details

i don’t think it’s helpful for anyone

to be speculating about hypotheticals

and furthermore i can’t speak for other companies

but on behalf of our company i can tell you

that our security gates do not read tags at this time

at this time

as i said before i cannot respond

to technical or hypothetical questions

our company has no plans

to track our customers’ locations

HACKER

blur out my face

ok?

no face

a give me like a distorted voice

ok?

no seriously

ok?

cause i know how that shit goes down

ready?

action!

when the police came to me

wifi

the guy called it

well i knew i could hack it

those chips are everywhere these days

in your bank card

your id

your dvds

so there’s one in that wetsuit

ok?

in the label

as soon as i saw it

i knew i could read it

where and when it was sold

the serial number

and

best of all

if there was a credit card number

on the receipt

i could see who had bought it

YET ANOTHER SALESPERSON

what day of the week?

then it must have been nadine

yeah no i do work tuesdays

but i’m usually over by the bicycles

she does the register

but it could be

maybe she said something about it

POLICE OFFICER
tuesday the thirteenth of october

the branch had just opened

and someone went to the register

with a tribord subsea five millimeter

wetsuit

medium

he also bought hand paddles

a snorkel

a diving mask

swimfins

water socks

and a waterproof A4 document holder

paid cash

no video

no witnesses

in a decathlon in calais

BRANCH MANAGER

excuse me

could i ask you not

to ask my employees any more questions

that’s right

no all the security footage has been erased

i’m not just saying that to you

i also had to say it to the police

after a week the recording

is wiped automatically

we had no way of knowing

that anything special had happened that day

i can’t answer that

i can’t—

i can refer you to our spokesperson

CORPORATE SPOKESPERSON

we see no need

for either the company name

or that of the brand in question

to be made public

the name of the place where the product was sold

adds nothing to your story

so it’s really no use to you

whereas

being associated with this event

would put our company in a bad light

and we’ve done nothing to deserve that

yes i’m aware

i’m aware of that

but it’s a question of perception

if our customers associate our products

or our shopping experience

with that kind of person

it’s bound to have an impact

on sales

we offered our fullest cooperation

to the police

but we’re under no obligation

to offer you anything

it’s not that we don’t want to help

we just don’t really see the point

when the case has been solved

oh yes it has

the police have stopped investigating

so the case is closed

POLICE OFFICER

now the funny thing was

annette

was that that receipt

was for two of everything

i could account for one wetsuit

because we had it in storage

but just when we started to think

we’d cracked the whole thing

not only did we have a missing person on our hands

but also a missing wetsuit

so when we saw the alert from norway

we sent the other serial number

from the receipt

and bingo

then we pooled our information

no dna match

either here or in norway

and that store in calais

it’s near the jungle

that camp they have there

so we started to think

about refugees

annette

that maybe that camp had something to do with it

but they don’t talk to the police

and how can you be a missing person

when officially you’re not even here?

CORPORATE SPOKESPERSON

look annette

just between you and me

no one wants to have anything to do

with illegal immigrants

and if we start to look like immigrant lovers

handing out diving suits boats submarines

god knows what else

to those poor bastards

then here’s what happens

one

our own little wave of refugees

right here in the store

and two

no more real customers ever again

there’s not a company in the world

would want to be associated with that

donate a bunch of crocs to orphans

no problem

buy a backpack

and we plant a tree somewhere

heartwarming right?

soft drinks for kids in Africa

whatever

but you don’t do a PR stunt

in a prison

refugees aren’t sexy

didn’t anyone tell you that

before you started poking your nose around?

this story of yours

who wants to hear it?

if you really can’t leave it alone

then make sure you hook them

before you tell them

what it’s really about

cause no one wants to know

so tell them it’s a murder mystery or something

CUSTOMS OFFICER

my little booth

i work for customs here in calais

walls covered with posters of missing people

so that we can all keep an eye out

all white

caucasian

whatever

every one of them

hits me every time

you got a few thousand people there

refugees

and a lot of them just disappear

lots of missing kids

it’s a real problem

and then the posters here

all white

or caucasian

whatever

anyway

never reported missing

that’s what our friends down at the station tell us

and I’m sure they’re right

because who would ever report them?

and maybe for those people there

a disappearance is good news

cause it means you made it

you’re in england

or something

NADINE

you have to understand

they cause trouble sometimes

those—

that kind of people

coming in here

no money

helping themselves to the merchandise

think about it

after a while

it’s more than enough

to make anyone a racist

but now that they know

that we call the police here

and stealing means handcuffs

and handcuffs means bye bye france

our lives are a whole lot easier

some stick around because

it’s warm here

i think

nothing wrong with that of course

except we notice that other people

are scared to come in

i swear

with all those sketchy types around

it’s sad really

how little we sell these days

mostly professional diving equipment

the regular customers keep coming back

it’s the tourists who keep their distance

and that’s where the money is

couple of chocolate bars at the counter

a ball

a kid who wants rackets for beach tennis

and keeps whining until he gets them

we hardly see them here anymore

and even the kids

—and don’t tell me it’s all our in our heads—

even the kids keep quiet

and don’t ask for candy anymore

when they see those men hanging around

they cling to their parents’ legs

and they’re out of here in no time

sometimes even before their parents

it’s psychology right?

the tourists see those people

and they feel for their wallets

—not saying anything bad

that’s just how it is—

and they don’t want to buy anything

“have to watch out for my money”

that’s in their heads

that’s psychology

they think those men…

but then they think

the same thing goes for us

“keep a close eye on your money”

if we made it our slogan

a big sign over the entrance

it would have just the same effect

as those men

but what I’m trying to say is

yes i remember

that two of those men came in

to buy stuff

two hundred and sixty euros worth

they paid for it

cash in hand

where’d they get it?

don’t ask

you run it through the scanner

you check if it’s real

and you say

thanks for shopping with us merci

merci

they know what that means

then they leave

au revoir

they don’t know that one

POLICE OFFICER

keep looking?

what do you mean?

the case was closed

it was a refugee

yeah sure

but we could keep looking

the rest of our lives

if we had to look into

every dead refugee

no time for any other cases

no one there has papers

no one wants to talk to us

and after all

it’s obvious what happened

ms nilsen

you try looking for one refugee

among seven thousand

3. ON THE SCENE

france

refugee

interpreter

we generally hear the characters as they hear themselves, speaking fluently and without accents beyond those of the actors

the characters often address the audience, narrating events in different parts of the camp

when two or three characters are in the same place, interacting, there is no space on the page between their lines

morning

REFUGEE

i am mouaz

i am a man

i am a refugee

i want to go to london

and i am stuck in calais

INTERPRETER

i am youssef

also a man

once a refugee

i now live in london

but i used to be stuck in calais

AID WORKER

i am luc

not a refugee

i was born in calais

i live in calais

and i plan to stick around

INTERPRETER

why have i come back here?

REFUGEE

it’s morning

AID WORKER

early

INTERPRETER

far too early

i step off the ferry

the man next to me

whose cap says kentucky

asks me “where you from?”

at first I’m not sure

if i should say london

london or syria

what do you mean exactly?

he’s as mixed up as I am

we stutter

and stammer

REFUGEE

i wake up to a voice shouting

INTERPRETER

nice warm sun here

AID WORKER

there’s no a/c

in my white toyota

REFUGEE

i get on my feet

or try to

AID WORKER

i get out

oof this heat

say hi to the volunteers

we shake hands

sticky

isn’t there a window we can open?

fluorescent light on a summer day

dusty old supplies

didn’t we have a fan here?

we open the hatch

and load up the car

REFUGEE

i can’t move my foot

AID WORKER
sheets

REFUGEE

why can’t I move my foot

AID WORKER

tarps

REFUGEE

I push myself upright

AID WORKER

water

and canned food

REFUGEE

test my foot

AID WORKER

and i drive on

REFUGEE

wouldn’t say it’s sleeping

i’m limping

it’s throbbing

INTERPRETER

the fence is higher now

i walk to the parking lot

AID WORKER

stuck in traffic

I hit the brakes

check my messages

six hundred re-shares

six hundred people shared my post

i smile

i’m glad

to see people still get angry

still care about something

REFUGEE

what happened yesterday?

the dark

the lights

the doors

the doors swung open

shoving and shouting

“out of there you

get out of there”

batons

the hood of a car

did I run for it?

yes, and then

pepper spray

that’s why my eyes

are crusted over

dried-up tears

how did I end up back here?

INTERPRETER

how would she dress

a journalist?

i see someone waving

could it be her?

i give it a try

i’m youssef

your interpreter for today?

she nods

“annette nilsen”

and holds out her hand

“you know your way around here?”

AID WORKER

this is the city

that people pass through

REFUGEE

where everybody stops

INTERPRETER

but no one stays

REFUGEE

a lot of us get stuck

INTERPRETER

where boats and trains

and cars and trucks

go back and forth

from there to here

and here to there

REFUGEE

crossing the channel

without a care

INTERPRETER

where the fences keep growing

REFUGEE

they’re fifteen feet high now

i’m just five foot eleven

maybe six if I stand on my toes

they stretch on and on

more than seven miles long

AID WORKER

where they spend more

on guards and fences

than on food and shelter

where I do what I can

and don’t know if it helps

INTERPRETER

where sensors

look straight through plastic sheeting

straight through clothes

and find the warm hearts beating

REFUGEE

so they pull us over

open the doors

and it’s out of the truck for us

back to the camp

INTERPRETER

why have i come back here?

AID WORKER

passport check

they pull me aside again

“papers”

i show them

they let the other cars drive on

they hold my photo

up to the light

“is that your real name?”

INTERPRETER

why have i come back here?

i remember clinging

to the bottom of a moving truck

all my muscles cramped

bound for death or the far side

and here I am again

because somebody asked me

AID WORKER

“where’d you get that car?”

INTERPRETER

did i want to interpret for a journalist

did i want to help her find out who he was

the wetsuitman

“you’ll be paid”

AID WORKER

“luc

that’s your real name

luc?”

INTERPRETER

we walk into the camp

annette pulls out her camera

and takes a quick photo

bad idea

should i warn her

or just translate?

AID WORKER
i work in the camp

i’m bringing supplies

water

it’s hot and sticky

i show them my badge

they say to each other

“does that look like a luc to you?”

“is that your real name?”

INTERPRETER

winding our way between the tents

me here with a white woman

how does this look to them?

AID WORKER

i know

i don’t look french

mais luc

c’est mon nom

et j’aime bien le vin

INTERPRETER

this place is bigger than ever

and more crowded than ever

AID WORKER

they laugh

“go ahead

drive on

sorry bout that”

INTERPRETER

i ask everyone the same question

annette shows them a photo

well, actually

a sketch

she says

they need to know that

not a photo

a sketch

the idea of a person

amazing

what those experts can do

you give them a skull

they give him a face

the wetsuitman

that’s what he looked like

i nod and translate

have you seen him?

REFUGEE

i see a man in a safety vest

sir

excuse me sir

AID WORKER

someone’s calling me

he’s limping

INTERPRETER

have you seen him?

REFUGEE

i go up to him

he’s an arab

one of us

i say to him

my foot

look at my foot

it’s throbbing

they hit me

and I twisted it

INTERPRETER

have any of you

seen him?

REFUGEE

help me fix my foot

i have to get out of here

tonight I have to

AID WORKER

“I don’t speak arabic”

are the only words of arabic

I know

he looks confused

then switches

to a kind of english

REFUGEE

look at my foot

INTERPRETER
did you ever hear about a man

who tried to swim across?

REFUGEE

he wraps my foot in gauze

it should be tighter

firm around the ankle

AID WORKER
he takes over

REFUGEE

doctor

AID WORKER

i don’t know who he means

him or me

you’re a doctor?

REFUGEE

a nurse

but i don’t know how to say that

so i nod

doctor yes doctor

but my foot

will my foot be ok?

AID WORKER

he’s speaking arabic again

REFUGEE

can I walk tonight?

run

if i have to?

jump

if i can’t reach high enough?

can I land without shouting in pain?

can I slip away?

AID WORKER

sorry i don’t know what you’re saying

REFUGEE
with this foot

can I go

to the land of paddington?

AID WORKER

peddipong?

REFUGEE

paddington

rowr!

he imitates a bear

AID WORKER

oh paddington

right

REFUGEE

i go there?

AID WORKER

paddington bear yes

REFUGEE
thank you

thank you very much

AID WORKER
he kisses my hand

searches his pocket

shows me a photo

REFUGEE

my daughter

she can talk now

three years old

here she’s just a baby

the aid worker searches his pockets

and produces another photo

AID WORKER

my baby girl

look

the same age

afternoon

INTERPRETER

it’s afternoon

a beautiful sunny day

AID WORKER

sweltering

REFUGEE
dust and sweat

INTERPRETER

i see someone in a safety vest

one of the aid workers

maybe he knows something

they’ve been here longer

they’re the ones who stay

i go up to him

his face looks familiar

was he here before

when i was stuck here?

annette catches up to me

and pulls out her press card

“may i ask you something?”

AID WORKER

talk to them

not to me

INTERPRETER

i show him the sketch

it’s me

youssef

any chance you’ve seen—

AID WORKER

is it my uniform?

a safety vest

so I must be safe to talk to?

INTERPRETER

i don’t understand

it’s me

youssef

AID WORKER

about himself

“at least this one has a job”

INTERPRETER

nothing for me to translate

i wave the sketch at him

annette’s as bewildered as I am

AID WORKER

i take the videos here

that she should be taking

and you

her little helper

her walking excuse

INTERPRETER

i try to calm him down

with a few words of arabic

AID WORKER

oh great that again

REFUGEE

i know sweetheart

you’ll see daddy soon

daddy—

soon—

first i’m going to england

then you can come too

AID WORKER

what do i know

i just hand out blankets

REFUGEE

yes i miss you too

AID WORKER

patch up injured feet

REFUGEE

what?

AID WORKER

offer advice

and a listening ear

REFUGEE

sweetheart?

AID WORKER

but every night i go home to my own bed

REFUGEE

you’re breaking up

sweetheart

I’m losing you

AID WORKER

to my own daughter

to my own house

REFUGEE

fuck

this fucking connection

no no not you

there you are again sweetheart

could i talk to grandma?

no no story today

phone calls cost money

grandma

give me grandma

later

when you’re here with me

there’ll be stories

about england

about driving on the left

about paddington bear

because he’s here at the camp

on a poster

a brown bear

with a red hat

and a blue jacket

and a suitcase in his paw

and he says “migration is not a crime”

that means it’s not naughty

to look for a new place to live

and he knows all the questions

they might ask

if I

when I get to england

they printed them out

and hung them up for us

under his paws

if I

when I get there

it’ll be because paddington bear helped daddy

now can I speak to grandma?

yeah

thank you, sweetheart

INTERPRETER

i spent a long time this morning

thinking about what to wear

it’s dirty over there

you get dirty over there

i have to show them i’m one of them

that they can trust me

i have to show them i’m not one of them anymore

that you can get out of this place

so i shaved

dash of cologne

now here I am

in a filthy stall

dabbing my chin with wet toilet paper

to get rid of that musky odor

pulling off my shirt

wadding it up

and putting it back on

rolling up my sleeves

leaving half my buttons undone

my belt in my bag

behold: a rumpled man

with mussed-up hair

have you seen him?

the interpreter shows the refugee the sketch

INTERPRETER

to the audience

annette takes a picture

REFUGEE

no camera

INTERPRETER

he covers his face with his hands

annette freezes

she thrusts the camera

back in the bag

and shouts

“no camera”

her hands in the air

REFUGEE

no camera

INTERPRETER

they shout back and forth

a few times

“no camera”

REFUGEE

i move on

limp away

no police today

INTERPRETER

no no police

REFUGEE

not that on top of everything

not now

INTERPRETER

she’s a journalist

REFUGEE

i stop

shouldn’t walk now

have to rest my foot

for tonight

the white woman with him

nods

and asks questions

he translates

INTERPRETER

does he look familiar?

REFUGEE

for the first time

I take a good look at the photo

INTERPRETER

sketch

REFUGEE

studies it for a while

hazara

INTERPRETER

annette nods

she’s excited

it sounds like a name

REFUGEE

he looks like a hazara

INTERPRETER

it’s not a name

it’s a people

REFUGEE

those eyes

that nose

INTERPRETER

afghans descended from the mongols

REFUGEE

why not ask the hazaras

INTERPRETER

are the afghans still along the roadside?

REFUGEE

you two have been here before?

INTERPRETER

i was stuck here for a while

REFUGEE

and now…

again?

INTERPRETER

oh no

i live in england now

the refugee smiles

and shakes his hand

REFUGEE

mouaz

INTERPRETER

youssef

REFUGEE

that’s a really nice shirt

AID WORKER

ghettos

in this place

what does that say about people?

when even here

in a camp

that nobody planned

each group has its separate

patch of land

the interpreter points

INTERPRETER

sudan

nigeria

and over there’s iraq

REFUGEE

iran

you were close

INTERPRETER

everything is so different now

so much bigger

REFUGEE

we’ll pass iraq later

you don’t want to stop there

does she follow you everywhere?

INTERPRETER

or the other way around

i don’t know

i’m here to translate

REFUGEE

i used to have a little white cat myself

the refugee laughs

the interpreter laughs half-heartedly

INTERPRETER

that church there is new

REFUGEE

we built it ourselves

are you staying till sunday?

we sing on sundays

are you a good singer?

INTERPRETER

i’ve already lost track of where we are

REFUGEE

near the toilets

we started over there

INTERPRETER

so over there by the flag

is where you eat?

do they still serve meals?

REFUGEE

just one

at five pm

if you want more

you can get it

in afghanistan

INTERPRETER

that’s where the market is

REFUGEE
that’s where the market is

INTERPRETER
what are those fences for?

they were just starting to put them up

when I left

REFUGEE
that’s where they stick the women and children

we can’t go there

are you spending the night here?

INTERPRETER

looks like these days

the night club is in eritrea

REFUGEE

and you

where do you come from?

AID WORKER

i’m an aid worker

i’m french

i studied law

i’m a man

i’m a father

and yes

i have dark skin

my grandparents

came to this country long ago

and even now

the first question is never

who i am

or what i do

but always

where i come from

so i feel brown

i’m supposed to be lebanese

never been to lebanon

REFUGEE

turn left here

cigarettes?

you want cigarettes?

you can buy cigarettes here

welcome to afghanistan

INTERPRETER

to the audience

now he’s asking for my number

AID WORKER

parallel monologue, not in the same place as the interpreter
i give out my number sometimes

INTERPRETER

i’m not sure

AID WORKER

so sometimes they let me know

how it’s going in england

INTERPRETER
i give it to him

AID WORKER

and then they ask me

to say hi to so and so

have i heard from such and such

can i tell them where to find—

INTERPRETER
there he goes

AID WORKER

better not to get started

so many names

INTERPRETER

bye mouaz

AID WORKER

so many faces

REFUGEE

bye youssef

INTERPRETER

so we look around

and ask around

AID WORKER

there you sit

on your birthday

and you’ve just unwrapped

just that very minute

your new mobile

when a message comes in

it’s mahmoud

in england

“haven’t heard from my nephew recently

something wrong with his phone?

i’ll send money for a new one”

funny coincidence

you say to yourself

and you laugh and think

if i find my old phone

i’ll give it to his nephew

but the whole thing slips your mind

till the uncle

mahmoud

his name was

sends another text

“still no news?”

so you tell him you’ll keep looking

and he keeps texting

and you think to yourself

you should stop giving out

your number all the time

INTERPRETER

“would you like some tea?”

some hazaras take us

to a tent where tea is served

i’m her smuggler

her ticket inside

they speak pashto

one says he speaks english

“little bit”

turns out to be

a very little bit

“i’ve been stuck here longest

and never heard anything

about wetsuits or swimming”

they pass around the sketch

“so sad no one knows who he was

but that’s how it goes

no one cares

about some dead immigrant”

night

REFUGEE

the sun is going down

INTERPRETER

we hurry back to the ferry

annette at my side

she’s quiet

we never got any closer

than “hazara”

REFUGEE

i’m searching

my bags

looking for black things to wear

INTERPRETER

i’m going back to england

where i’ll always be the foreigner

they cross the street

so their paths won’t cross mine

REFUGEE

all around me

a whole jungle dressed in black

INTERPRETER

why am I here?

why am I there?

REFUGEE

we stand for a moment

spread out

INTERPRETER

i carried my mother

my handicapped mother

across the desert on my back

my children behind me

the youngest in a sling on my belly

one and a half

was his age when we got to england

one and a half

and now he’s going on six

REFUGEE

the last light from our mobiles

INTERPRETER

they shout the same things at him

REFUGEE
see you on the other side

INTERPRETER

go back to your own country

REFUGEE

then we have to leave

we put the phones away

INTERPRETER

you want us to go back?

REFUGEE

we start walking

INTERPRETER

you want them to go back

to some strange country

they hardly know a thing about

except what they’ve seen on the news?

REFUGEE
no one says a word

INTERPRETER

the images of war

people dying

people blowing themselves up

women can’t go to school

REFUGEE

in a large procession

like mourners

we leave the camp

INTERPRETER

the only thing they know about it

is why we left

REFUGEE

we break up

into small groups

INTERPRETER

because I found my eldest daughter

twelve years old

in a well

violated

shot dead

by our country’s soldiers

that’s the country

you want us to go back to?

REFUGEE

we walk through the darkness

keeping away from the road

INTERPRETER

and yes

lots more men than women here

REFUGEE

have to watch the foot

INTERPRETER

if i hadn’t left

i’d be in the same army now

that raped my daughter

REFUGEE

not bang it into anything

INTERPRETER

i’d have to kill civilians too

so I’m a deserter?

REFUGEE

i have to get out of here

INTERPRETER

i left

so i wouldn’t have to fight

wouldn’t have to be cruel

and now all of a sudden

i’m a terrorist

they shout it straight in my face

right in front of my children

“terrorist”

AID WORKER

police at my doorstep

what’s wrong?

they say my name

what’s wrong?

“get out of the car”

they say

“c’mon move”

so I do

and I tell them

I don’t have much time

I have to pick up my daughter –

is my daughter okay?

but they’re already turning me around

putting on the handcuffs

what’s going on here?

have I done something wrong?

INTERPRETER

a decathlon ad is playing

while we wait for the ferry

i take my phone out of my pocket

and turn it back on

mouaz has been texting me

the whole time

what questions did they ask

when i made it

across the water?

was i in a truck?

could you take the train

in those days?

the messages just keep coming

it’s bleeping again

REFUGEE

maybe your journalist could do something with this?

INTERPRETER

there’s a link to a facebook group

where they keep in touch with family members

who’ve already made it to england

annette’s already on her way home

should i follow up on this?

another bleep

his last one

REFUGEE

see you on the other side!

INTERPRETER

and then nothing

REFUGEE

we’re in a group

four or five of us

most of us have tried this

many times before

night after night

the procession

through the dark

AID WORKER

they play the video

and glare at me

as if I’ve done something wrong

while I watch

the things they do

see them hitting

see them kicking

and then

right here

see them dragging

one onto the hood

and then the way they laugh

i don’t get it

what did i do?

REFUGEE
there’s the parking lot

a truck pulls up

look

someone gets out in front

his jeans already half open

he heads for the bushes

someone gives the signal

we run for it

the truck opens up

and we crawl inside

now the curtain is closed

his fly’s zipped up again

AID WORKER

“you can’t just go filming the police like that sir”

what do you mean just go filming?

the woman beside him

wears a business suit

instead of a baton.

“at seventy-two seconds

you hear one of us

ask you to stop filming

yet you kept filming

that’s a violation of privacy”

it was a public road

“you’re not a journalist”

i’m a citizen

a concerned citizen

“a citizen must always obtain consent

prior to making

audio or video recordings

and must obtain consent once again

before sharing the material

did you obtain consent?”

INTERPRETER

i click on the link

and ask to become a member

a moment later i’m accepted

i post a message to the group

“does anyone know who this is?”

then all the facts

the sketch

the story of the wetsuit

the date of purchase

thirteenth of october

and the disappearance afterwards

REFUGEE

we’re stopping

we’re hoping

please no inspection

give us a chance

we’re burrowing

deeper and deeper

behind the boxes

voices outside

footsteps in back

a tube sticks through the curtain

those tubes can see carbon dioxide

so hold your breath

and don’t get too warm

AID WORKER
they have me log in

on their laptop

to “delete the video at once”

lots of people have shared it

all those groups

there’s a message on my timeline

that photo

or sketch

or whatever it is

the wetsuitman

it’s from that interpreter

INTERPRETER

youssef

AID WORKER
i recognize his profile photo

INTERPRETER
it’s me

youssef

AID WORKER

and i see the date

thirteenth of october

“sir”

that’s my birthday

the day i got the phone

the day mahmoud asked me

if i’d heard from his nephew

“sir”

i look at the sketch

he looks just like mahmoud

a dead ringer

“sir

delete the video now sir”

i click

and it’s gone

REFUGEE

we drive on

how is it possible?

we drive on

INTERPRETER

i get in line

passport control

REFUGEE
they didn’t even open the rear doors

INTERPRETER

i see heads turning

people frowning and then

they pretend they weren’t looking

REFUGEE

are we past the police?

INTERPRETER

will they stop him?

is he allowed to board?

he looks suspicious

REFUGEE

first the french

INTERPRETER

votre papiers

REFUGEE

then the british

INTERPRETER
papers please, sir

REFUGEE

and then those scanners

INTERPRETER

i nod at the staring faces

they turn away fast

REFUGEE

another stop

we hide again

someone opens the curtain

takes out a box

cuts it open

or that’s how it sounds

don’t look

don’t say a word

most of all don’t move

AID WORKER

i step outside

have to turn my phone back on

my code

her date

the day the month the year

and she was born

i call

REFUGEE

a walkie-talkie makes a noise

AID WORKER

is she still there

can you put her on?

REFUGEE
an englishman sighs

curses

and leaves us alone

AID WORKER

i’ll be right there

REFUGEE
the curtain is closed again

we’re huddled together

where no eyes can find us

holding our breath for the scanners

but they can see you

through iron walls

through plastic sheets

AID WORKER

my daughter

my arms

REFUGEE

we’ve stopped again

AID WORKER

and sorry

really sorry

INTERPRETER

i join the crowd

on the gangplank

below us trucks roll by

once i was down there

cramped and desperate

the ferry a parking lot the tunnel

i tried everything

REFUGEE

nothing happens

then we’re on the move

slow and bumpy

going inside somewhere

the floor is moving

INTERPRETER

i get on the boat

REFUGEE

are we boarding the ferry?

AID WORKER
home at last

my daughter’s in bed

my phone is bleeping

almost out of juice

back to facebook anyway

there’s that message again

that interpreter and the wetsuitman

staring out from my timeline

REFUGEE

the cabin door opens

and falls shut again

lots of voices around us

murmuring

making phone calls

and then it’s quiet

INTERPRETER

the sea stretches out ahead

the crowd stretches out on deck

people from cars

school groups from buses

men dressed as nuns

and one as the pope

downing pints of beer

teenagers whooping

and throwing bottles

AID WORKER
i make an international call

mahmoud

it’s been a long time

fine fine

i have a question

your cousin who was here

do you have a photo of him?

REFUGEE

the gate closing

faint honking

AID WORKER

mahmoud sends a photo

could be him

i text:

was he a good swimmer?

instant reply

a screenshot

messages

in arabic

a mystery to me

i click on youssef’s profile

and send it on

with my number at the bottom

INTERPRETER

a bleep

a message

AID WORKER

i think i have a lead

can you translate this?

INTERPRETER

i open the screenshot

“hey mahmoud

just got to calais

i can see england

it doesn’t look far

maybe i should swim for it?”

the reply is a smiley

“i mean it”

then mahmoud

“bad idea

don’t do it

it’s too cold

it’s too deep

it’s too far

i know it looks so close

but you’ll never make it”

“i’ll try today”

and then nothing else

questions without answers

and again and again

“this message could not be delivered”

REFUGEE

we’re on our way

INTERPRETER

i call

AID WORKER

i pick up

INTERPRETER

and tell him the translation

REFUGEE

we made it

INTERPRETER

ask him

who sent that

who is the wetsuitman

4. THE MEETING

syria

mother

brother

father

MOTHER

when you called

it was the first time

we’d heard anything

we couldn’t usually reach him

from here in yarmouk

and ever since october thirteenth

whenever we call

we always hear that same song

even now

if we call

I’ll call him

ahmed!

BROTHER
yeah

MOTHER

it’s the journalist

she wants us to call

call neimat

BROTHER

what?

why—

MOTHER

for the voicemail

can’t you call neimat?

this lady’s asking us to call neimat

BROTHER

i’m calling now

MOTHER

put it on speaker

a song plays

his voice mail

they listen

that’s my husband

he sings at weddings

such a beautiful voice

FATHER

yeah right

MOTHER

no really

FATHER

hmph

MOTHER

it’s his job

MOTHER

it is

he was a good boy

always wanting to be friends with everyone

imagine that in this country

where everyone is fighting everyone else

looking for reasons

to bash each others brains in

there are shias here

sunnis

christians jews alawis

and they all loved god

and they all loved him

that’s how he was

you saw him

and you wanted the best for him

you could never be angry at him

any argument

he’d put himself in the middle

so many times i told him not to

sometimes on the street

when two people

went at each other

like they do

he would put himself in the middle

yeah

but his brother’s no different

BROTHER

what?

MOTHER

you can’t stand injustice

i’m telling the lady

you won’t stand for it

and a real sense of responsibility

neimat i mean

as a student for instance

even when all his friends

started leaving the country

he stayed

he wanted to earn his degree

he was studying to be an industrial engineer

electromechanics

at the university here

BROTHER
he was constantly being stopped

by the police

or anyway

by assad’s troops

rebel or student

we all look the same to them

they arrested him once

MOTHER

and he was such a good boy

BROTHER

took him down to the station

“to confirm his identity”

hard to put yourself in the middle

when you’re the one

taking the beating

MOTHER

now make no mistake

he could take care of himself

but that was a dangerous road

neimat couldn’t go on with his studies here

so he went to jordan

the university of jordan

that was the plan

but they have no eye for talent there

or they were too full

i don’t know

so he tried turkey

but couldn’t enroll there either

BROTHER

we welcome refugees with open arms

says the university there

we’ve reserved so many places

just for them

it’s the other way round

only so many refugees allowed

turkish students?

sure, no limit

and they count the refugees on their fingers

and then it’s full

MOTHER

they do their best

we all do our best

BROTHER

we didn’t hear much from him

MOTHER

i blame us

he got in touch as often as he could

but our reception is not so

BROTHER

i don’t blame us

i blame our own country’s army

which has us under siege

FATHER
shhhh

BROTHER

which shot my knees to pieces

MOTHER
he was such a fast runner

BROTHER

which is starving this city

and then stops us from even

calling for help

no communications

we have no idea

how often he tried to call us

but if you call

no connection

leave a message

no response

MOTHER

we always tried to call him back

BROTHER

you can see why you might get discouraged

MOTHER

the last time we heard from him

he called us

you talked to him

didn’t you darling?

FATHER

it was all too much

BROTHER

he was living on the street

MOTHER
always cheerful

and then suddenly

it’s all too much

FATHER

it’s all too much

BROTHER
he couldn’t pay the travel agents

MOTHER

he was somewhere in france

“i’m in the land of the eiffel tower”

that’s the text he sent

he sent us that

i wrote back to him

FATHER

it’s all too much

MOTHER

he wanted to buy a wetsuit

and swim to someplace

so we scrimped and saved

went around to the family

and there was another wedding

BROTHER

people still get married

can you believe it

MOTHER

so beautiful to see

i was invited along

and when he’s on stage

my husband

it’s a real celebration

i married a firework display

and you sang that song

the one

that’s on his voicemail

sing it again

he has such a beautiful voice

the father is silent

but we had a lovely evening

and we raised some money

and ahmed figured out

how to send that money

to him

BROTHER

that sounds more straightforward

than it is

when you live here

MOTHER

the sixth of october was the wedding

the seventh of october he had the money

FATHER

he was a good swimmer

always used to go swimming

silence

until the swimming pool

silence

things get smashed up

in the end

it all gets smashed

FATHER

i was the the one

who asked him to leave

MOTHER

he had talent

you always said

FATHER

someplace where he could find a job

MOTHER

two peas in a pod those two

when i fell in love with him

he looked just like neimat

but such different talents

neimat couldn’t sing

BROER

metal

MOTHER
that’s not singing

BROTHER

he had a band

MOTHER

like your father always says

that’s not singing

BROTHER

he was the singer

in a metal band

MOTHER

but his real talent

lay in his hands

BROTHER

the sniper slumpark correctional

MOTHER

he had a garage here

where he worked as a student

he tinkered with cars

he was good at that

popular garage

always friendly too

and then the war came

and lots of things got smashed

including cars

but still he had to go

BROTHER

you try getting by

as an auto mechanic

in a city under siege

where no one can drive in or out

where they’ve cut off the fuel supply

there’s no money here

no jobs here

MOTHER

but we’re here

BROTHER

my father was right

you want your child to have a future

FATHER

and now he’s dead

MOTHER

you couldn’t have known

BROTHER

we hadn’t heard from my brother

for a week

a whole week

and even mahmoud

our uncle in england

had no news

MOTHER
they were normally in touch every day

BROTHER
good reception in england

MOTHER

you just don’t know what might have happened

BROTHER

we thought he’d been mugged

MOTHER

“no need to worry about me”

that’s what he always said

when I asked him if he was keeping warm

if he had enough to eat

“no need to worry”

BROTHER

or maybe his stuff had been stolen

or he’d been beaten up

and was in the hospital

MOTHER

he had money all of a sudden

maybe they noticed

BROTHER

near the university

there’s always good reception

we went over there

to call our uncle

MOTHER

to tell him not to worry

but maybe he could go to france

ask around at hospitals

BROTHER

our uncle thought neimat had been arrested

and that was why he couldn’t call us

“i’ll ask the police”

so he went over

we should tell you

our uncle’s a big guy

beard

looks like dad

right?

him and you and neimat

they’re like triplets

MOTHER
you take more after me

BROTHER

so he gets there

walks in through the front door

“where’s my nephew?”

MOTHER

“we can’t help you”

he’s a good storyteller

our uncle

“this police officer

he has a mustache

and a kind of a club in his hand

just the club in his hand

not the mustache”

BROTHER

that’s what he said

MOTHER

good storyteller

“may I see your papers?”

BROTHER
“of course of course”

MOTHER
“what was his name?”

BROTHER

“neimat”

silence

MOTHER

“that name’s not in our system

did he apply for asylum here?”

BROTHER
“he was waiting to apply in england”

MOTHER

“if he’s not in our system

he wasn’t here

so he can’t be missing

so we can’t help you”

BROTHER

right

that’s when he said

“we can’t help you”

MOTHER
right

so he

mahmoud

such a dear sweet man

brings a photo of neimat

to calais

to the jungle

BROTHER

“has anyone seen this man?”

MOTHER

no luck at the hospitals

BROTHER

not even at the morgue

MOTHER

that dear sweet man

BROTHER

“has anyone seen him?”

MOTHER

he never gives up

we’re all like that

we’re not giver-uppers

are we, darling?

not him

not you

and not neimat

with your smashed-up knee

you just keep on going don’t you

BROTHER
i just keep on going

don’t have to join the army now

can’t run away

MOTHER

i called mahmoud every day

to find out if there was any news

when i had no reception

i went to the university

along the same road

neimat used to take

BROTHER
i told you not to

MOTHER

he wound up in libya at first

and traveled on from there

BROTHER

it’s dangerous there

people get bought and sold

like mopeds

MOTHER

he found a job in a print shop

not a university

not a garage

but at least they had machines

and his boss taught him how to dive

got him certified and everything

he always loved being in the water

when he went to italy

on the rubber boat

with the travel agents

it felt so good to know

that he knew how to swim

when he got to italy

he planned to open a garage

or become a diving instructor

or both

or an underwater welder

always full of plans

FATHER

i couldn’t do a thing for him

and the one thing I did

was the death of him

i can just see myself there

singing

for a little cash

so he could swim

BROTHER

they say he met someone there

in france

another refugee

that was all the police knew

and all they wanted to know

they must have found each other

then they bought the equipment

without much money

or much idea

what they were doing

MOTHER
he was a good diver

BROTHER

how should he know

the water’s too cold there

and those flippers don’t help

MOTHER

he was an instructor

BROTHER
no

he wanted to be an instructor

just like he wanted to go to england

wanted to work

wanted to help us

a swimming certificate

and some diving lessons

that’s the best he ever did

FATHER

ahmed

BROTHER

we sent him money

he bought diving gear

and he swam

not because he loved swimming

but because

he had no other choice

MOTHER

you don’t know what to hope for

when you haven’t heard from your son for such a long time

no news

is good news

you can only tell yourself that so many times

and at the same time you don’t want to know

then along comes a journalist

with a story

and you send her your dna

to see if it’s him

and meanwhile you keep hoping

“no

it’s not him

he’s still out there somewhere

without his phone

and he never learned

my number by heart

neimat and numbers”

naive

i know

BROTHER

it was morning

a scorching hot day

i had to walk halfway across the fucking city

on this fucking knee

to find food

when there’s practically no food to be found

but practically nothing feels like a lot

now that the siege is over

no more trouble with the army

or a little less anyway

and food coming in again

a little more

hungry?

sure we’re still hungry

but that’s not how it feels now

when you’ve seen your neighbors eat grass

cactus leaves

and eventually

even the cats disappear

being hungry doesn’t mean much

strange how fast you get used to things

shrinking portions

shrinking stomachs

so I’m wandering the streets

no cats

no air raid warnings

or maybe it’s just

that they turned off the sound

the noise was so constant

that maybe they just stopped

MOTHER

i write children’s books

we sit at home

my husband and i

and i read to him

what i wrote the day before

i can see from the look on his face

when my writing is working

he laughs at the least little thing

such a gorgeous generous smile

with those dimples of his

i fell in love with those dimples

silence

he’s the best listener a person could ask for

BROTHER

i cut through the crowd

jostling for the packets

that the army hands out

they intercept the deliveries

they play the good guys for once

they negotiate

with other countries

we’re the bargaining chips

“drop the sanctions

and they get fed”

and what do you know

they drop the sanctions

so i have food

i have meat

i got my hands on some meat

a leg of lamb

FATHER

mutton

MOTHER
sheep

BROTHER

it’s been years since we had

sheep

like a feast

that’s how it feels

to find some meat

in this day and age

MOTHER
it’s the story of a bear

looking for a place

to sleep for the winter

he goes from one animal to the next

“can I stay with you”

squirrel’s den

too small

rabbit’s den

too full

white fox’s den

too cold

porcupine is too prickly

and the mice are too tickly

they panic

and run all over him

when he rolls over in his sleep

so he wanders around

and the snow starts to fall

and there’s no one to see him die

because the others are all fast asleep

in their own safe little hollows

BROTHER

strange how happy you can be

with what you used to take for granted

i run home

as fast as my smashed-up knee will carry me

MOTHER

you shouldn’t run

BROTHER

she always says that

“you shouldn’t run”

MOTHER

and my husband says

i need a happier ending

who wants a book that ends

with someone freezing to death

so we start talking

about all the animals

who see him shivering

and get together to dig a big hole for him

the sheep gives him a blanket

the glowworm a night light

and they read him a bedtime story

“the very same story

you’re reading now”

BROTHER

then my phone rings

it’s you

and you tell me it’s him

neimat’s dead

he got as far as norway

i’m standing outside our house

i can see my mother inside

reading to my father

MOTHER

i see him through the window

his phone in his hand

and what is that

part of a sheep?

i jump up

he has meat with him

FATHER

i jump up too

MOTHER
we rush to the window

and i see

that sheep’s leg

fall

thud

into the dust

and i see his face

and i know

and i fall down too

and you’re still standing

the only one still standing

ahmed comes inside

into my arms

and you’re still standing

and you walk outside

and you pick up that piece of sheep

SELECTED READING

ARTICLES

– Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, “Our terrifying swim: Two Syrians’ journey through dark waters to Greece”

– Rami Alhames. globalvoices.org, “Syria’s Yarmouk Camp Between the Hammer of Hunger and the Anvil of Extremism”

– Rutger Bregman, De Correspondent, “Empathie is niet de oplossing, maar de oorzaak van onze grootste problemen” [Empathy is not the solution, but the cause of our biggest problems]

– Yves Delepeleire & Jef Poppelmonde, De Standaard, “UK? OK!”

– Anders Fjellberg, Dagbladet, “The Wetsuitman”

– Toine Heijmans, de Volkskrant, “Twintig jaar zoeken naar een naam bij een lichaam” [The twenty-year search for a name to go with a body]

– Isabel Hunter, Daily Mail, “Swimming to a new life: Incredible story of Syrian refugee who left his home in Damascus after it was bombed then swam for seven hours across the Aegean desperate for a safer future in Europe”

– Jan-Cor Jacobs, Algemeen Dagblad, “Vluchtelingenkamp Yarmouk: Overleven in het hart van de hel” [Yarmouk refugee camp: surviving in the heart of Hell]

– Florent Maillet, lsa-conso.fr, “Decathlon prépare son ‹‹ big bang ›› mondial de la RFID” [Decathlon prepares for its worlwide RFID rollout]

– Paddy O’Connell, BBC, “Desperate migrants try to swim to Britain from France”

– Maite Vermeulen, De Correspondent, “Wat voor de één een mensensmokkelaar is, is voor de ander een reisagent (en nog 10 begrippen die je anders doen kijken naar migratie)” [One person’s human trafficker is another’s travel agent (and 10 more terms that will make you look at migration differently)]

– Vice News, Vice, “We gingen langs bij het vluchtelingenkamp in Calais”[We stopped by the refugee camp in Calais]

BOOKS

– Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy

– Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

– Valeria Luiselli, Tell Me How It Ends

– Nicolaas Matsier, Het achtenveertigste uur [The forty-eighth hour]

– Patrick Ouredník, Case Closed

– Maxime Waladi, Eeuwig anders. Mijn identiteit op scène [Forever different: my identity on stage]

OTHER SOURCES

– Surprising Europe, “Border Control Calais,” YouTube video

– Farah van Valkenburg, Het ‘kamp’ in Calais: Een onderzoek naar de ‘morele economie’ van de Franse overheid en een humanitaire hulporganisatie in Calais [The “camp” in Calais: a study of the “moral economy” of the French government and a humanitarian aid organization in Calais], master’s thesis

– Henk Wildschut, Ville de Calais [City of Calais], visual art

The Mercurian

A Theatrical Translation Review

The Wetsuitman

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