ARLINGTON, Va., October 1, 2026 — Globic Press, a subsidiary of EDAV, announces the publication of the new 2026 edition of Gëzim Alpion’s If Only the Dead Could Listen, a provocative work of contemporary European drama that confronts questions of asylum, migration, cultural identity, prejudice, nationalism and human dignity.
Blending black comedy, tragedy and bureaucratic absurdity, the play brings the political and social debates surrounding immigration down to the level of individual lives.
At the center of the play is Leka Trimi, a Kosova Albanian asylum seeker who finds himself in police custody in Britain after a trip to Harrods goes disastrously wrong. His interpreter, Alma Stone, is an Albanian-born researcher who has established a new life in Britain and has little sympathy for the refugees and immigrants from the country she left behind.
What begins as a police interview develops into an increasingly charged encounter between two people whose experiences of exile have led them in sharply different directions. Their confrontation raises uncomfortable questions about belonging, assimilation, racism, patriotism, memory, prejudice within immigrant communities, and the ways displaced people understand both the countries they leave and those in which they seek a new life.
From the stage to the page
The play had its world première at the MAC Theatre in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in February 2006, in a production supported by Arts Council England. It returned to the stage in 2008 at the MAC Theatre and the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton. The work generated extensive audience discussion and attracted attention for its treatment of asylum seekers and the immigrant experience.
“A hard-hitting play about the plight of asylum seekers in Britain.”
Birmingham Mail
Rather than presenting refugees, immigrants, public officials or adopted societies in simple moral categories, Alpion places contradictory characters and perspectives in direct confrontation. The result is a work of political theatre that is at once comic, unsettling and tragic, inviting audiences and readers to question stereotypes while considering the psychological and social consequences of displacement.
For readers, students and theatre-makers
The new edition is designed for general readers and theatre audiences, and for university courses and scholarly discussion in drama, migration studies, sociology, political science, European studies, human rights and contemporary cultural studies. In addition to the complete play, the volume includes:
- A note on the British asylum system by Professor Adrian Blackledge
- Alpion’s introduction to the work
- Material on his earlier tragedy Vouchers
- Information about the 2006 and 2008 productions and audience responses
- A select bibliography of previews, reviews and interviews
About the author
Gëzim Alpion is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Birmingham, UK, and a playwright whose work illuminates migrant lives. He holds a BA from Cairo University and a PhD from Durham University, and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences of Albania in 2024.
Publication information
| Title | If Only the Dead Could Listen |
|---|---|
| Author | Gëzim Alpion |
| Publisher | Globic Press |
| Publication date | October 1, 2026 |
| Format | Paperback, 5.5 × 8.5 in |
| ISBN | 978-0-9801896-9-8 |
| Price | US $19.00 · UK £18.00 · EU €17.00 |
| Availability | Distributed worldwide through Ingram; available from major bookstores and online booksellers |
About Globic Press
Globic Press, a subsidiary of EDAV, is a global scholarly publisher advancing knowledge across the social sciences, applied research and professional practice. Alongside rigorous, peer-reviewed scholarship, it publishes fiction, drama and executive titles, distributed worldwide through Ingram.
Media contact
Review copies, interview requests and high-resolution images: books@globic.press