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Laughing in the face of prejudice
THE ARAB, THE JEW AND THE CHICKEN
Courtyard Theatre
CONFLICT Relief presents us with an energetic, physical and noisy exploration of the Middle East conflict, through 15 satirical scenarios devised by their truly disparate troupe members.
Founded in 2005, the comedy collective boasts more nationalities than a Benetton advert: Jana Zenadeen (a Lebanese-American), Ofer Yatziv (a former Israeli army officer), Nour Alkawaja (a Palestinian-Canadian who lives in Stoke Newington), Rebecca Gross (English-Jewish), and Adam Elabadaly, an Irish-Libyan. No fear of cultural bias here then.
The team jumps in with both feet where others fear to tread, forcing us to look at our prejudices through humour.
The actors play all the roles with confidence, challenging stereotypes and preconceptions; they ridicule the protagonists in a way that only those with first-hand knowledge and understanding of cultural and religious mores can do.
The audience, as diverse as the actors, obviously relished the humour and absurdity of the evening.
Some sketches are inspired by popular TV shows, such as the hilarious Land Factor, based on The X Factor, where contestants sing songs to win land. Elsewhere, a sheikh and a rabbi find common ground on that universal subject: Britney Spears.
Another sketch, conducted in Hebrew and Arabic, presents a situation which neither the actors nor the audience could understand, underlining the lack of understanding between Arab and Israeli, as well as we in the west who are unable to understand either party.
Conflict Relief provides a fresh and amusing take on much-troubled and often talked about region. With more material and closer editing it might provoke an even stronger and more powerful reaction.
Until March 30
0870 163 0717 |
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