There are no Israelis in Palestinian dramatist Amir Nizar Zuabi’s new play which he directs himself. A co-production between the Young Vic and his theatre company ShiberHur (“an inch of freedom”) it takes a very personal look at the effects of the end of the British Mandate in 1948 when Palestine was divided in two and the state of Israel established.
The Brits are represented by soldier Rufus – a mouthpiece for proclamations none of the villagers are likely to believe, but basically just a decent chap looking forward to going home to Sheffield. The main focus is on Yusuf (the gentle-hearted fool of a small village in Galilee) and his older brother Ali who wants to marry fellow villager Nada.
Her father refuses to permit the union in case they breed more simple minded souls. Performed in a combination of English and Arabic (with surtitles somewhat dodgily projected on a pair of screens and a metal bathtub) there’s no questioning the sincerity of Zuabi’s writing as ghostly figures from the past crowd the watery set.
Amer Hiehel’s likable young Yusuf (his words and actions sometimes mirrored by his older self some fifty years later) brings a touch of comedy – as well as the unsullied honesty of an unsophisticated mind - to this evocative drama. And although it takes a while to get used to the mix of languages, this is a poignant, poetic and heartfelt account of a country which (like Ali and Nada’s love) is destructively torn apart by politics and outside intervention
Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ (
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