Aliens

A real-life mother and daughter set out on a road trip from the windswept beaches of Donegal to a small village in southern Italy, searching for traces of a forgotten history, and for a way to understand each other.

The journey begins on the beaches of Donegal, where the bodies of Italian immigrants washed ashore after the sinking of the Arandora Star. Many had lived in Northern Ireland for decades, running ice cream parlours and fish-and-chip shops, before being classified as “enemy aliens” and interned during the Second World War. Today, almost no one remembers them.

Blending live performance, documentary film and live electronic music and performed in English, French and Italian with integrated subtitles, ALIENS weaves together their own story with those of Italian immigrants in Northern Ireland and present-day migrants, activists and strangers encountered along the way. As they travel across borders, languages an generations, the journey becomes a meditation on migration, inheritance and and those who live in between: the aliens.

Winner of the Beyond Borders Award and nominated for Best Production at Dublin Fringe Festival 2025.

Credits

• Written and performed by Marta McIlduff and Alessandra Celesia
• Directed by Emily Mitton
• Original music composed and performed live by Corgiat
• Video editing – Piero Oronzo
• Lighting design – Rocco Andreacchio
• Technical Manager on tour –  Gearóid O’ Hallmuráin
• Production Coordination & Surtitles – Elisabetta Scarin

A co-production by Curious Industries & Dumbworld.

With the financial support of the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta (Italy)

Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.