Cairo, 2011: The Arab Spring has led to lots of of 1000’s of Egyptians gathering and protesting within the streets. It would additionally result in revolution, coup d’état and counter-revolution. Along the best way was violence and oppression. Cairo 2015: You Bury Me tells the story of six younger individuals residing and loving by these harmful instances. Each side of their lives brings hazard to them, with their beliefs and their desires not becoming in with the dictator; the tyranny that they stay underneath. Romance should be saved secret, crossing spiritual or gender strains results in concern of discovery and persecution.…
Rating
Excellent
Coming of age in an oppressive regime, performed out by a beautiful forged.
Cairo, 2011: The Arab Spring has led to lots of of 1000’s of Egyptians gathering and protesting within the streets. It would additionally result in revolution, coup d’état and counter-revolution. Along the best way was violence and oppression.
Cairo 2015: You Bury Me tells the story of six younger individuals residing and loving by these harmful instances. Each side of their lives brings hazard to them, with their beliefs and their desires not becoming in with the dictator; the tyranny that they stay underneath. Romance should be saved secret, crossing spiritual or gender strains results in concern of discovery and persecution. Parts of their lives mirror what we’d contemplate a traditional teenage expertise: motion pictures and music, smoking a joint, pondering continually about intercourse and on the lookout for any alternative to maneuver from fantasy to actuality. But that is all underneath an oppressive dictatorship the place the hazard of getting caught is much more than a stern lecture. These tales weave collectively, linking each the characters and the pervading oppression of navy management. Everything is a problem, every part brings concern.
Performed in the usual Orange Tree Theatre spherical, shifting blocks and trolleys turn into desk and faculty benches and twirl in and round; a quite simple however fairly efficient set from Sara Perks. Above the stage hold concrete blocks, their heavy, harmful weight overshadowing every part and everybody. The forged are all marvellous, working collectively as an ensemble first, to introduce the setting and to remind us of the Arab Spring. In a fast-paced opening narration, they transfer out and in and thru the trolleys. Settling into their characters, they carry us their loves and lives and the concern that they stay underneath. It is perhaps one factor for a young person to be afraid of somebody strolling in on some heavy petting, it’s one other when it’s concern of violent and oppressive secret police. Given the nice work by all of the forged, it could be a little bit churlish to spotlight only one, however Yasemin Özdemir brings a ravishing power to Maya, positively fizzing across the stage.
Written by Ahlam, who prefers to stay nameless, You Bury Me received The Women’s Prize for Writing in 2020 and seems like her complicated love letter to Cairo, the town generally nearly enjoying a seventh character. Talk of its environment and oppression mixes with the alternatives for watching censored motion pictures or discovering hash – the town has many layers. We additionally hear it all through, from a relentless soundtrack. Music composed by Kareem Samara and sound design by Adam P McCready consists of snippets of popular culture, with notable appearances by Celine Dion and Pink Floyd. Music is vital to those younger individuals, not least of all as shifting and dancing is extra alternative for flirting.
There is sweet humour right here, and the coming-of-age tales permit for comedy as youngsters uncover the realities of intercourse. One specific internet-inspired hearsay operating into actuality causes hilarity. It brings us nearer to the characters: we might not have the ability to intently relate to life in an oppressive regime however as youngsters, we had a number of the similar challenges and fears.
Katie Posner’s path of the ensemble is robust all through however notably in the direction of the tip, when the six lives transfer aside. The choreography, with motion path by Annie-Lunette Deakin-Foster, is hanging because it exhibits individuals vanishing. Left to marvel what occurred to their buddies and the 1000’s of others who’ve disappeared, there’s nonetheless a imaginative and prescient of the long run with hope.
You Bury Me highlights how, regardless of receiving in depth media protection on the time, the Arab Spring might have pale from the reminiscence of many right here within the UK. We don’t see a lot protection of it anymore and it appears a very long time in the past in a faraway place. The play exhibits that hope, love, and pleasure nonetheless exist within the lives of its younger characters even in a troublesome context, and invitations the viewers to affix them on a night in Cairo, accessible through the District Line to Richmond.
Written by: Ahlam
Directed by: Katie Posner
Design by: Sara Perks
Lighting Design by: Aideen Malone
Sound Design by: Adam P McCready
Composed by: Kareem Samara
Movement Direction by: Annie-Lunette Deakin-Foster
You Bury Me performs on the Orange Tree Theatre till 22 April. Further info and tickets might be discovered right here