Palestine: Peace De Resistance at The Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft
Photo: Zoe Birkbeck
Written by Eleanor B for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own
Palestine: Peace de Resistance is a one-man show performed by Sami Abu Wardeh.
Although the title suggests an intensely political production focused solely on the current atrocities taking place in Palestine, the show is actually a blend of storytelling, comedy and brief interludes of hand puppetry, all woven together into a deeply personal performance.
The stage itself is divided into three distinct sections: part talk show set, complete with a bar stool and cocktail-making equipment; part artist’s corner, featuring a large easel and sketch pad; and part open mic night, with a guitar stand, stool and microphone waiting at the side of the stage.
Wardeh opens the performance by introducing himself as part Palestinian, part English and part Irish, a detail that becomes increasingly relevant throughout the evening as he repeatedly returns to variations of “a Palestinian, an Englishman and an Irishman walk into a bar…” jokes across the show’s hour-long runtime.
The heart of the performance centres on the story of Merguez, a displaced Palestinian, and Fatima, an Algerian freedom fighter. Through their stories, Wardeh explores the historical context of Palestine and the displacement its people have faced over generations, while also weaving in details from his own life. He reflects on being mistaken for Mediterranean rather than Palestinian because he does not “look” Palestinian, and on the feeling of being disconnected from your own identity and homeland. These moments, rooted in the experiences of real people, give the show much of its emotional weight and importance.
Of course, this is an incredibly serious subject, but Wardeh balances it with surprisingly well-timed humour throughout. Reading excerpts from Merguez’s “love diary”, performing absurd hand-puppet interludes involving two birds attempting to flirt before one eventually eats the other, and sketching portraits of audience members live on stage, he repeatedly cuts through heavier moments with comedy. The portraits themselves, sorry Sami, could perhaps use a little improvement, but the audience participation worked brilliantly, particularly when the extra doodles hidden on the back of each page were revealed to the crowd.
The “talk show host” sections helped break up the performance nicely, allowing Wardeh to speak more directly about his own life and experiences. Stories about visiting Palestine for the first time as an adult, alongside memories of moving around the Middle East before eventually ending up in Battersea as a child, added another layer of intimacy to the performance.
The venue itself also added hugely to the experience. Performed at The Seagull Theatre, a small theatre seating just over 100 people, the show felt incredibly intimate and personal. In a larger venue, some of the direct moments and audience interaction may have been lost, but in such a compact space every joke, story and emotional beat felt much closer and more immediate. It suited the performance perfectly, making it feel less like a formal production and more like being invited into Wardeh’s world for the evening.
Overall, this was a thoughtful and engaging show that managed to be educational, emotional and genuinely funny all at once.
★★★★
