Writer: Khawla Ibraheem
Director: Oliver Butler
A Knock on the Roof is a staggering one-woman work that radiates humanity, humour, and unbreakable resolve in every moment. The title comes from the name given to the Israeli Defence Force’s “warning bombs” that are dropped in Palestinian cities before the larger ones, and so being at a performance feels like hearing a testimony straight from a fresh bombsite. To assess the work of writer/performer Khawla Ibraheem, a Palestinian artist based in the occupied Golan Heights, on a solely artistic level feels almost perverse, but in some ways she seems to encourage this interpretation – because she depicts war without combatants, without identities, and without ideologies, the focus is always on the victims at its centre; the word “Israel” barely, if ever, features.
Ibraheem is alone on the stage with just a chair for company, as she plays Maryam, who is unable to shake her fear of the knock on the door – what if it happens while she and her son, Noor, and mother are sleeping? What if they are in the shower? Or she has her period? Or her phone isn’t charged? Channelling her fear and paranoia in an ironic subversion of obsessive exercise culture, she tests herself to see how far she can run in her allotted 5 minutes with a pillow of belongings that weighs the same as Noor. The repetition of this act is the core of the piece, and within it Ibraheem’s gifts as a performer and writer come to the fore; when she realises she has only run 300 metres in 5 minutes, she tells us she is “embarrassed… and dead”.
There is no overarching thesis to Knock, but it exists in a plane that does not require one – the bombardment of Gaza is blatantly grotesque, and needs very little exploration beyond that. Through her wit, her ability to craft utterly believable characters with only slight changes in stance and voice, and Muaz Aljubeh’s lighting work, Ibraheem’s piece highlights the practical horror of people living not only under occupation, but in constant fear of sudden destruction. There is no tugging on heart strings, no attempt to get the audience onside, or even to make much of an argument, and barely a mention of those dropping the bombs. But there are moments that focus on candy floss, face cream routines, and revelling in neighbourhood gossip. A Knock on the Roof is a mesmerising voice from the frontlines of an ongoing horror, and anyone who misses it will later be told that they’ll regret it.
Runs Until 12th October 2024.