Theatre / Palestine
Review: For a Palestinian, The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Powerful and convincing’
What is theatre? Is it in essence an exercise in storytelling? My Concise Oxford dictionary defines a story as ‘an account of imaginary or past events’, but stories within political theatre are more nuanced and difficult to define.
In For a Palestinian Bilal Hasna tells two stories – those of himself and of a Palestinian translator, Wa’el Zuaiter, who lived in Italy in the 1960s. What follows is both a conventional love story as well as a love story about identity.
When Hasna receives an invitation to his cousin’s wedding in West Jerusalem he is both overjoyed and guilty at not knowing much about his homeland. While researching his heritage, he comes across Zuaiter’s story and over the course of the next 80 minutes we meet an array of characters who paint a picture of his life.
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It starts out as a romance, following a glimpse of an Australian artist’s ankles beneath a painting of oranges which is suspended from the ceiling. As Zuaiter, Hasna is joyfully playful, naïve and falling inexorably in love with Janet. He adores living in Italy and meeting the array of opinionated and spirited fellow tenants of the pensione where he lodges.
He and Janet also share a bond with the sea; for Zuaiter the sea is synonymous with oranges because that was where they grew in the groves around Jaffa.
Hasna’s skill at morphing from one character to the next is palpable, no more so when his body is seemingly punctuated by a shuddering shedding of a skin as he returns once more to playing himself. Back as Bilal, we sympathise with his irritation at being stuck in Luton Airport waiting for the 4am EasyJet plane his father has insisted on booking since it costs £10 less.
There are laughs aplenty and it seems that we are in for a whimsical evening about the travails of translating One Thousand and One Nights into Italian. But the mood changes with Zuaiter’s reaction to the 1967 Six Day War. He decides to go to fight the Israeli army, only to find that the war has ended by the time he finally arrives in an old, battered Fiat. On his return to Rome, he becomes an activist and forms a Palestinian action committee.
A simple and effective set design by Jida Akil contains plenty of hidden surprises within the orange slices arranged in piles on the floor and a partly draped frame hinting at a later story reveal.
The narrative benefits from sound recordings that help to explicate the play’s composition and explore ways to present the tale for maximum impact.
Much credit goes to the superb lighting by Ros Chase. At times, the mood changes so subtly that it only registers subliminally but at others it hits boldly and conveys a huge emotional sweep in such a small space.
Towards the end, we learn of the impact of the fatal attack by the Palestinian group Black September at the Munich Olympics when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered, and the harsh reaction of the Israeli state.
Hasna and fellow writer and director Aaron Kilercioglu have created a powerful and convincing piece of theatre which at its conclusion shifts towards a more polemical and overtly political piece. It remains a narrative about love and identity, but because this is fictional, we are left wondering whether it is, in fact, the whole story.
For a Palestinian is at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic on October 13-15 at 8pm. Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.
All photos: WoLab
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