Theatre / Reviews
Mayfest 2022 review: The Land’s Heart Is Greater Than Its Map – ‘Deeply moving’
A tour of Bristol with a difference is taking place as part of this year’s Mayfest.
The Land’s Heart is Greater Than Its Map may physically take place in Bristol, but its own heart is elsewhere as our tour guide chooses “hidden and seemingly insignificant areas and sites of memory that one holds dearly when the threat of exile and erasure hangs over your head”.
So the ruins of two churches, St Peter’s and St Mary le Port, become just two backdrops for a deeply moving personal story of loss and hardship within a far away city.
is needed now More than ever
The Land’s Heart Is Greater Than Its Map starts at Bristol Old Vic and finishes in Castle Park – photo: Paul Blakemore
Wearing headphones meant that I tuned out to most of the other aural goings-on as our tour guide – Palestinian filmmaker, writer and actor Ramzi Maqdisi, co-creator of this piece with Olivia Furber – led us from King Street, along Welsh Back and over Bristol Bridge.
In-between the commentary I noticed sights that I usually wouldn’t have spotted: three men were playing Dobble outside BrewDog on Baldwin Street, their faces a lesson in concentration; a couple were practising parkour close to St Peter’s Church, carefully measuring out the length of landing spots with their feet; a woman in a multicoloured coat crossed Castle Bridge, chatting animatedly with her companion.
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Read more: Mayfest 2022 review: Birthmarked, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Beautifully human’
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Just three normal occurrences in our own city, but then the commentary restarted and we were transported back to another city where the sound of gunshots provided a sharp contrast to the peaceful surroundings of Castle Park.
The war in Ukraine shows that normality can never be taken for granted, while in Jerusalem only last week, Israeli police attacked mourners as they carried the coffin of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
As we first put on our headphones, the commentary focused in on Bristol: ‘kill the bill’ protesters fighting for their freedom and the city’s mysterious hum.
But then the reality in front of our eyes made way for the reality of the city far away as we became part of a story that is all too often supressed, imagination needing to take over as Maqdisi’s words in our ears melded with the sights that we were seeing.
The city that we think we know becomes a contemplative landscape of a city that we only scratch the surface of in The Land’s Heart is Greater Than Its Map. I didn’t want to leave the far away place to which I had travelled without leaving the confides of BS1.
The Land’s Heart is Greater Than Its Map takes place until May 22. For tickets and more information, visit www.mayk.org.uk/mayfest-programme#group/the-lands-heart-is-greater-than-its-map
Main photo: Paul Blakemore
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