You Bury Me Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh 8th March 2023 Review
You Bury Me is at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from March 7 to 18 and if, like me, you viewed the “Arab Spring” uprisings of the early 2010s that spread across much of the Arab world through the internet via social media (or other news channels), a little bit like a voyeur looking through a window into someone else’s life, then this might just be the play for you.
This time, however, you are getting a glimpse through the eyes and hearts of the people on the other side of that window as we eavesdrop on the lives of a small group of young people growing up in Egypt under what was little more than a military dictatorship. How did this affect their lives and their city – Cairo? How did it feel to be part of a movement that not only challenged the authoritarian regime around them, but for a brief moment in time allowed them to smell the possibilities of not only real change coming but possibly victory in the air, only to see all those hopes and dreams swiftly snatched away from them?
This work, written by Ahlam and directed by Katie Posner answers some of these questions, but it also creates many more. Firstly who is behind pseudonym of Ahlam? A short video on The Lyceum Theatre’s website gives some clues to this, and I would rather people reading this review searched for that information directly rather than it being stated here, as much of this work is about people asking questions, searching for answers and finding out truths first hand.
Irrespective of who Ahlam is, “You Bury Me” has been a work in progress since its creation in 2015 and it has already won much critical praise including winning The Women's Prize for Playwriting (2020). A rehearsed reading of the play was performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2021 and this current version of the play was performed at Bristol Old Vic before coming to the Lyceum.
You Bury Me is really three plays in one – a commentary on resistance to an oppressive regime and a coming of age story of a group of young people from relatively comfortable backgrounds (mostly now graduated from university) coming to terms with many important choices as they grow up under a repressive military regime that touches upon every facet of not only their lives but the lives of their family and their friends. In truth, no one in Egypt is untouched in some way and the ease with which people can be arrested, detained, tortured, or simply just disappear has become an almost accepted norm of daily life. As well as this, it is also a love letter to the city of Cairo itself, a city with a history and complexity beyond the comprehension of most of us born outside of it to every really comprehend.
Currently, “You Bury Me” has a single act performance time of roughly 100 minutes and that is not really enough time to explore the dual nature of this work as, just as I was getting involved in either the political struggles of the work, or the personal lives of the young group of people, the focus changed back and forth. This, however, did become far more unified as a script as the almost naivety of youth was forced to give way to the brutal reality of the real danger of the political situation around them as the characters aged a few years and grew up very quickly in the process.
This work is, by definition, one that requires a relatively young cast and at the beginning as we enter their world, this is one that we can all at least have some connection with, and if you do not remember that world of discovery and wonder of being that young then you have simply become too old. Here nothing is certain, your sexuality, your religion, even your future, but everything in Cairo is different by default as there are strict rules in play. Here same sex relationships are rarely out in the open and any good girl must remain a strict virgin until marriage to her husband. At odds with more traditional views on life, this young group of people are also trying to find their way in their world where Western influences are everywhere around them and western music and films (even if edited) are a big part of their daily lives, and this clash of cultures at times makes it difficult for them to forge their own new identities, challenging what being an Egyptian means to them in the 21st century.
In Cairo, as everywhere else in the world, nothing is as simple as those who try to control everything would like it to be and we follow Alia and Tamer on their almost Romeo and Juliet path of forbidden lovers, Lina and Maya on their own journey of identity and discovery, the always conflicted in some way Rafik, and the seriousness of writer Osman as his political beliefs start to threaten not only him but everyone around him that he loves and cares about.
There is at the start of this work a feeling, for me at least, that we are still in a rehearsal stage of this play, but that feeling swiftly fades as you get drawn into the lives of the cast and that dark humour that flows through much of the script is something that we are all very familiar with in Scotland and that sense of “if you don’t laugh, you will cry” is what gives You Bury me so much warmth and emotional brightness when you would expect coldness and despair.
CAST
Nezar Alderazi Rafik
Moe Bar-El Tamer
Tarrick Benham Osman
Hanna Khogali Alia
Eleanor Nawal Lina
Yasemin Özdemir Maya
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This time, however, you are getting a glimpse through the eyes and hearts of the people on the other side of that window as we eavesdrop on the lives of a small group of young people growing up in Egypt under what was little more than a military dictatorship. How did this affect their lives and their city – Cairo? How did it feel to be part of a movement that not only challenged the authoritarian regime around them, but for a brief moment in time allowed them to smell the possibilities of not only real change coming but possibly victory in the air, only to see all those hopes and dreams swiftly snatched away from them?
This work, written by Ahlam and directed by Katie Posner answers some of these questions, but it also creates many more. Firstly who is behind pseudonym of Ahlam? A short video on The Lyceum Theatre’s website gives some clues to this, and I would rather people reading this review searched for that information directly rather than it being stated here, as much of this work is about people asking questions, searching for answers and finding out truths first hand.
Irrespective of who Ahlam is, “You Bury Me” has been a work in progress since its creation in 2015 and it has already won much critical praise including winning The Women's Prize for Playwriting (2020). A rehearsed reading of the play was performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2021 and this current version of the play was performed at Bristol Old Vic before coming to the Lyceum.
You Bury Me is really three plays in one – a commentary on resistance to an oppressive regime and a coming of age story of a group of young people from relatively comfortable backgrounds (mostly now graduated from university) coming to terms with many important choices as they grow up under a repressive military regime that touches upon every facet of not only their lives but the lives of their family and their friends. In truth, no one in Egypt is untouched in some way and the ease with which people can be arrested, detained, tortured, or simply just disappear has become an almost accepted norm of daily life. As well as this, it is also a love letter to the city of Cairo itself, a city with a history and complexity beyond the comprehension of most of us born outside of it to every really comprehend.
Currently, “You Bury Me” has a single act performance time of roughly 100 minutes and that is not really enough time to explore the dual nature of this work as, just as I was getting involved in either the political struggles of the work, or the personal lives of the young group of people, the focus changed back and forth. This, however, did become far more unified as a script as the almost naivety of youth was forced to give way to the brutal reality of the real danger of the political situation around them as the characters aged a few years and grew up very quickly in the process.
This work is, by definition, one that requires a relatively young cast and at the beginning as we enter their world, this is one that we can all at least have some connection with, and if you do not remember that world of discovery and wonder of being that young then you have simply become too old. Here nothing is certain, your sexuality, your religion, even your future, but everything in Cairo is different by default as there are strict rules in play. Here same sex relationships are rarely out in the open and any good girl must remain a strict virgin until marriage to her husband. At odds with more traditional views on life, this young group of people are also trying to find their way in their world where Western influences are everywhere around them and western music and films (even if edited) are a big part of their daily lives, and this clash of cultures at times makes it difficult for them to forge their own new identities, challenging what being an Egyptian means to them in the 21st century.
In Cairo, as everywhere else in the world, nothing is as simple as those who try to control everything would like it to be and we follow Alia and Tamer on their almost Romeo and Juliet path of forbidden lovers, Lina and Maya on their own journey of identity and discovery, the always conflicted in some way Rafik, and the seriousness of writer Osman as his political beliefs start to threaten not only him but everyone around him that he loves and cares about.
There is at the start of this work a feeling, for me at least, that we are still in a rehearsal stage of this play, but that feeling swiftly fades as you get drawn into the lives of the cast and that dark humour that flows through much of the script is something that we are all very familiar with in Scotland and that sense of “if you don’t laugh, you will cry” is what gives You Bury me so much warmth and emotional brightness when you would expect coldness and despair.
CAST
Nezar Alderazi Rafik
Moe Bar-El Tamer
Tarrick Benham Osman
Hanna Khogali Alia
Eleanor Nawal Lina
Yasemin Özdemir Maya
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com