This is where the world began. This was Caesar’s highway. Hannibal’s road to glory. These were the trading routes of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, the Ottomans and the Byzantines … We all come from the sea and back to the sea we will go. The Mediterranean gave birth to the world.

Step into the shoes of those whose job it is to enforce our harsh new rules: an Italian coastguard and a payday lender from Leeds. How do they do it? And what happens to them? Lampedusa is a powerful play about immigration and welfare.

This edition was published to coincide with the premiere at the Soho Theatre, London, on 8 April 2015, as part of the Soho Theatre’s season of Politics.