Kokova Magazine

Debates about immigration policy flame daily in the press, feeding political bonfires.

Do we forget that each immigrant's story tells of a unique human destiny?

Juana in a Million is a powerful new one-woman show exploring true stories of immigrants to the UK.

Emergent Mexican author-performer Vicky Araico Casas brings vividly to life her colourful cast of characters, lending stunning immediacy to her own immigrant experience and that of many others.

Directed and co-written by Nir Paldi (of multi-award-winning Theatre Ad Infinitum), and informed by new social research, Juana in a Million weaves a moving tale of survival, betrayal and hope.

Intensely physical, darkly comic and ultimately heart-breaking, Juana in a Million is a tour-de-force.

The play tells the story of a young Mexican woman arriving in London, her single suitcase filled with little more than dreams of security and happiness.

Juana's encounters in this strange foreign land shed unexpected lights on her identity as a woman and as a Mexican.

She finds herself forced into a new awareness of her country's violent past and tragic present.

The explosive culture-clash unleashed five centuries ago by the European conquest of the Aztec Empire of Mexico forms a subterranean counterpoint to Juana's 21st-century experiences.

The development of Juana in a Million was influenced by the 2011 publication of 'No Longer Invisible', a report on the hardship and social exclusion suffered by the growing community of Latin American women and men in London.

The report was co-commissioned by the London Trust and the Latin American Women's Rights Service (LAWRS), an organization supporting migrant women in London facing poverty, exploitation and abuse.

This new theatre piece - while very funny! - also manages to touch on so many of the struggles confronting immigrant women today … Vicky Araico really captures their anguish as well as their resilience.

Frances Carlisle, Director of LAWRS

This new play was commissioned by and developed with support of CASA Latin American Theatre Festival (London).

With live music by Adam Pleeth, the play offers an eye-opening glimpse into what it can mean to be an immigrant in the UK today.

Co-writer and performer Vicky Araico Casas says:

To me, the story of Juana becomes the quest of any woman to find a place where she can fully exist. Juana's quest may not be completely successful - fairy-tale endings are mostly out of reach for the anonymous millions whose destinies are shaped by poverty, violence, lack of opportunity, and by corrupt political classes in their home countries…But the issue of immigration is so complex. With this show I think we're not trying to give answers so much as to give body and form to some of the questions…

Juana in a Million Listing Information

Venue: Pleasance 10 Dome
Dates: 1st - 26th August (except 8th, 15th, 22th)
Time: 4:15pm (50min duration)
Tickets: £5 (previews) £10 (£8.50) £9 (£7.50)
Fringe Box Office: 0131 226 0000
www.juanainamillion.com