'We cannot doze through this tragedy': producer Mary Loudon on why In The Sea There Are Crocodiles is more relevant than ever

In winter 2018, when I discovered Young Roots, a charity providing immediate & long-term support to child refugees in the UK, I swore to its patron, the actor Juliet Stevenson, that I would find a way to raise money for them.

I’d read In The Sea There Are Crocodiles – the true story of an Afghan child’s five-year solo journey to safety - and it haunted me. In summer 2019, it hit me: it would make a brilliant play, and the play could be the fundraiser. I met with the director Nicola Moran, and over tea in a café in September 2019, we began work, there and then. Three months later, LoudonMoranProductions was formed, we had the UK theatre rights to the book, Nicola adapted it into an astonishing play, we cast brilliant young actors, booked professional theatres, and started fund-raising for the production costs. The pandemic struck but we were determined not to let people down: we didn’t cancel; we postponed.

Now, we are ready to perform, and how I wish the play were fiction. How I wish it were not more relevant now than ever before. Our gifted 21-year-old Afghan composer, Arson Fahim, is a former refugee himself. Two weeks ago, he left Kabul for the US to take up a prestigious scholarship to study conducting. It could be the greatest adventure of his life. Instead, he is sleepless, helpless and grieving, worrying for his family, friends and country. It should not be this way: not for him; not for his sister; not for millions of other Afghans.

I hope our play will be one of many wake-up calls. We cannot doze through this tragedy. We have to help. We have to do anything we can.

More information: In The Sea There Are Crocodiles