A Knock on the Roof
★★★★☆ Politics of horror
Traverse (Venue 15): Tue 13 – Sun 25 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
A Knock on the Roof, Khawla Ibraheem’s play at the Traverse for piece by piece productions, is a chilling evocation of war and its human cost.
The title refers to the Israel Defense Forces’ tactic of dropping small bombs on residential buildings in Gaza, five to fifteen minutes before sending rockets to demolish them. Mariam (played by Ibraheem in a performance of humanity, desperation and unfolding emotion) responds by training for this eventuality. How far can she run in five minutes? What about her young child and ageing mother? What can she do with their clothes and most precious possessions?
Khawla Ibraheem. Pic: Alex Brenner.
Rather than dealing with the political horrors of the big picture, Ibraheem focuses on the absurdity of what Mariam is trying to do. Some of it is certainly comic – all of those many companies on the Fringe that bill their plays as ‘dark comedies’ should maybe take a look at this first.
Mariam is a woman trapped, like everyone else around her, in a nightmare. But Ibraheem is careful to show us what her life was like before, that she is already in a situation she wouldn’t have chosen. But now it’s just trying to be normal, when normality – like using the lift to escape during a power cut – is not an option.
There is a repetition to the structure, which begins to grate, but it does highlight the craziness. The whole idea of ‘warning’ people you are about to kill them by sending a ‘smaller’ bomb beforehand – adding insult to injury, but beforehand – could be called Orwellian, or any number of things, if it was fictional. Its pretence at being a warning, and at civility, is something of a crime in itself.
imperceptible
The whole production builds from a beginning where Muez Aljubeh’s lighting and Rami Nakhleh’s sound design seem imperceptible, and Frank J. Oliva’s set design looks like an awful lot of bother to produce something that doesn’t look like a set at all.
Khawla Ibraheem. Pic: Alex Brenner.
The tension builds under the excellently paced direction of Oliver Butler (also credited with developing the play). The shadows lengthen, the sounds become worrying, and the subtle, worrying projections of Hana S. Kim ensure the design makes more sense.
There are things about the structure and staging that do not wholly satisfy artistically, but there seems little point in picking holes in a play that Ibraheem says she wishes she hadn’t had to write. There is also little point in saying whether it is recommended, or whether such a human, apparently small-scale response to tragedy is the most appropriate one, or whether plays can even deal with such horrors.
The world is terrifying, and so is this play.
Running time: One hour and 15 minutes (no interval)
Traverse Theatre (Traverse 2), 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED (Venue 15)
Tuesday 13 – Sunday 25 August 2024
Daily. Various times (see website for details)
Details and tickets at: Book here
More information: www.traverse.co.uk
Facebook: @TraverseTheatre
Instagram: @traversetheatre
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ENDS
