Bitter onions for a sweet land
Daniel Nelson
Image by Young Vic
Corinne Jaber
German-Syrian actor Corinne Jaber (“I felt I must do something about Syria”) starts cooking at the outset of this one-woman, one hour show and the enveloping aroma of frying onions would have held me happily in my seat even if her performance and Amir Nizar Zuabi’s words had failed to do so. But both actor and writer are almost pitch perfect.
Almost, because once or twice a phrase doesn’t quite ring true and using a search for a lover as a way of passing on the stories of the people she meets on the way –stories from the Syrian conflict – also occasionally feels more like a device than a heartfelt odyssey.
But that’s being pernickety. Overall, this is a short, sharp journey to the heart of darkness, of despair at the world’s failure to respond, and of love, humour and spirit.
Many people will not be enticed by a play that “explores the crisis in Syria through the stories of its 2 million refugees”: it sounds too preachily grim. Anyway, what’s the point? We know about the crisis: we’ve seen the ruined buildings and the hapless refugees on TV.
But creativity always finds stimulating new ways of presenting old problems, and this is another example. It’s easy to see and forget the TV images: it’s important to remember, to think about the struggle as it affects people, to be made to think about your own response. The stories will stick in your mind.
And, as a bonus, you’ll see how to prepare and cook kubah, even if the sizzling pan on the stove finally becomes an angry rebuke rather than a restorative treat.
+ YouTube interview with Corinne Jaber
· Oh My Sweet Land is at the Young Vic, 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ, £12/£19.50, until 3 May. Info: 0207 922 2922/ boxoffice@youngvic.org
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