Gosh, this piece was extremely good.
I guess you might describe it as stand-up theatre. Just one performer, Yousef Sweid, telling and acting out his story:
Yousef was raised as a Christian-Arab-Palestinian-Israeli kid in Haifa, and is now raising two Jewish-Arab-Austrian kids in Berlin. Only he’s facing a custody battle, so things are getting complicated…
This link to the Royal Court resources on the production explains more.
On entering the theatre, Janie and I ran into my old pal from the health club and Lord’s, Stephen Barry, who I hadn’t seen or heard from for quite some time…
…with his wife, Lindy. Being the Royal Court Upstairs, we were able to sit together and chat a while before the play started. Stephen does wonderful charitable work with refugees from that part of the world, but in any case, it seems, has become even more of a Royal Court regular than me and Janie, although this is the first time I remember overlapping with him there.
Anyway, returning to Between the River And The Sea…
…this beautifully written and performed piece seemed, to us, pitch perfect in illustrating the human side of the tragedies unfolding in the Middle East. Yousef Sweid is highly charismatic and his story is told with eloquence, charm and humour. Not everyone can tell their stories in this way, but everyone from that part of the world has their stories about their childhoods, their friendships, their animosities and their tragedies.
I would challenge anyone who has a heart to hear the final few sentences of the piece without being profoundly moved. I’m sure Stephen wouldn’t mind me letting on that he quietly shed a few tears
This Royal Court run is sold out – it probably sold out soon after I bought our tickets some months ago.
As I often find myself saying, but mean with special intensity in this case – this production deserves to be seen by a much wider audience.
This link will find you reviews of the production, if the “edited highlights” in this Royal Court stub are not enough.