Damascus

Published Friday 10 August 2007 at 11:55 by Nick Awde

The Middle East is fast becoming more understandable in our western eyes and writer David Greig has done his bit by holding theatre workshops there.

Those visits have inspired his latest play - part drama, part polemic, part bitter-sweet love story, with more than a tinge of ironic humour throughout.

His protagonist is Paul, a writer of English as a foreign language textbooks. He has just arrived in Damascus - his flight was held up by bombs in Beirut and his return flight is already looking dodgy. “It’s the situation,” as he is constantly reminded.

Hotel clerk Zakaria is sympathetic to his plight, but is more interested in recruiting the Scottish visitor to help him pick up foreign girls at the mosque or tips on becoming a Hollywood scriptwriter. Images on the foyer TV screen remind Paul of the volatile world he’s already feeling trapped in.

He somehow manages to concentrate on selling his new English textbook to Muna, who represents a major college. Her dean Wasim, who speaks no English, later joins them and announces he won’t buy the book - he sees no political gain in it for himself at the ministry. The lives of all four start to intertwine like the swirling arabesque motifs that lace Anthony MacIlwaine’s hotel interior.

As the harassed Paul, Paul Higgins is deeply sympathetic, yet nails the humour each time, but he does not quite let us into the real soul of an ordinary man under extraordinary pressure. Meanwhile, Nathalie Armin creates instant sympathy in Muna by going straight to the heart of a woman able to reconcile her personal vision with that of her society. Their exchange of English verb tenses is a moment of pure poetry.

Khalid Laith admirably creates a convincing Zakaria from what is essentially a one-note character, Alex Elliott brings a subtle balance to Wasim, all world-weary yet dreaming still, and, in the guise of a transsexual Ukrainian cocktail pianist, Dolya Gavanski is a diverting chorus thanks to her laconic exposition.

Director Philip Howard makes confident use of the limited setting of a hotel foyer and helps the action along while neatly side-stepping cliches of the foreigner abroad. The result is a play that tells us more about ourselves than the Middle East, as Paul’s textbook becomes an unexpected symbol that questions our own concept of liberty.