Once upon a time, Poland was a place you left. Today, it’s where you return. Two men – one from Chicago, the other from Grodno – visit their homeland, convinced it is where they’ll find a home. It swiftly turns out, however, that the return is not the end of the journey. The new Poland is no longer on the outskirts of Europe. It is a paradise lost for descendents of emigrants, refugees and exiles. Yet the return proves to be less a dream come true than the beginning of a test in how to be a Pole.  

Mikita Iłyńczyk’s play, inspired by Sławomir Mrożek’s ‘Emigrants’, flips the perspective of the cult drama. It tells the story not of those who leave Poland in search of a better life, but of descendents of emigrants who return, having meanwhile changed completely. Their stories resound with questions about today’s Europe, migration, belonging and identity. 

‘E:/migrants’ is a tale about a world in which borders have not vanished, they have only shape-shifted. About loneliness, the need to find roots and a community, which increasingly monitors who might be considered ‘theirs’. With Mrożek’s trademark subversiveness and the sensibility of today’s theatre, this play asks not only about the future of migration, but also about what ‘home’ means today, and if you really can return to your homeland.