How Not to Drown coming to Theatre by the Lake

In 2002, in the turmoil after the end of the Kosovan War, an 11-year-old was sent on the notoriously perilous journey across the Adriatic. He was accompanied by a gang of people smugglers to a new life in Europe - How Not to Drown is Dritan Kastrati's real-life story.

How Not To Drown, which has been receiving rave reviews up and down the country, will be coming to Theatre by the Lake on February 28 to March 2. 

Dritan plays himself at various points in the ThickSkin production, which has been co-written with playwright Nicola McCartney, who is herself a foster carer, following 60 hours of recorded interviews between the two of them.

How Not to Drown promotional poster (Image: Supplied)

Co-writer and performer Dritan Kastrati said: “This is my story, but it could be anyone’s. Just for one second imagine there is a war happening in the UK now, which direction would you run for safety? It would be awful.

"British families fleeing, children separated from their parents. But it’s happening every day across the world. It happened to me. I wanted to share my story, in my own words, as a child coming to the UK alone. It’s a story we don’t usually hear about asylum seekers. It’s not a sad story, actually parts of it are pretty funny, but it is truthful and sometimes painful.”

Director Neil Bettles said: "After the huge success of How Not To Drown at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, it feels timely and important to be sharing Dritan’s story with a wider audience around the UK.

"It’s a show that we are very proud of and includes all the hallmarks of a ThickSkin show - an urgency in its storytelling about an important social issue of our time, delivered with a fast-paced, cinematic, dynamic quality that we hope will have broad appeal."

READ MORE: Treading the boards in 2023: Theatre across Cumbria