Royal Lyceum Theatre
4 stars
“One day I will become what I want.” So begins the defining statement of the man about to enter the hospital ward as he comes to terms with his own mortality in this reimagining of Mahmoud Darwish’s epic life and death poem, itself penned as Darwish recovered from open-heart surgery a decade ago. As this fictionalised version of himself slips into some anaesthetic dreamland, he makes the leap into some other-world where poetry is more than just words on a page, but defines the very soul itself.
Amir Nizar Zuabi’s production for the Palestinian National Theatre is a vivid piece of lateral-thinking, which takes Darwish’s words off the page and puts flesh and blood on a statesmanlike meditation. So the bed-bound poet engages with his younger self; an orange-robed woman carries an entire landscape on the train of her dress; a bass guitarist plucks out the rhythm of life to a drum machine that sounds like life-support; and all the while the poet drifts in and out of consciousness.
In this respect, such a magical-realist approach resembles other explorations of internal epiphanies such as Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter Of Life And Death, but without the erotic sing-songs of one and the stiff-upper-lip of the other. The clean-lined quietude and constant pulse of light instead gives Zuabi’s rendering of Darwish’s words, performed by eight actors a 21st century ice-cool sense of purpose. There’s an extra poignancy too to Darwish’s words on the joy of life following his tragic death last weekend. Zuabi and his cast not only embrace and cherish the author’s passions, but honour his passing with dignity and grace.
The Herald, August 15th 2008
ends
4 stars
“One day I will become what I want.” So begins the defining statement of the man about to enter the hospital ward as he comes to terms with his own mortality in this reimagining of Mahmoud Darwish’s epic life and death poem, itself penned as Darwish recovered from open-heart surgery a decade ago. As this fictionalised version of himself slips into some anaesthetic dreamland, he makes the leap into some other-world where poetry is more than just words on a page, but defines the very soul itself.
Amir Nizar Zuabi’s production for the Palestinian National Theatre is a vivid piece of lateral-thinking, which takes Darwish’s words off the page and puts flesh and blood on a statesmanlike meditation. So the bed-bound poet engages with his younger self; an orange-robed woman carries an entire landscape on the train of her dress; a bass guitarist plucks out the rhythm of life to a drum machine that sounds like life-support; and all the while the poet drifts in and out of consciousness.
In this respect, such a magical-realist approach resembles other explorations of internal epiphanies such as Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter Of Life And Death, but without the erotic sing-songs of one and the stiff-upper-lip of the other. The clean-lined quietude and constant pulse of light instead gives Zuabi’s rendering of Darwish’s words, performed by eight actors a 21st century ice-cool sense of purpose. There’s an extra poignancy too to Darwish’s words on the joy of life following his tragic death last weekend. Zuabi and his cast not only embrace and cherish the author’s passions, but honour his passing with dignity and grace.
The Herald, August 15th 2008
ends
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