Writer & Director: Bashar Murkus
Dramaturg: Khulood Basel
Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah, or The Epic of Bani Hilal, is one of those stories that has circulated widely across cultures and languages. Until the early 20th century, the story of Banu Hilal was performed in a variety of forms across the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq, as folktales or local legends recounted in poetry, yet it is now at risk of extinction.
Even before the show starts, the actors are waving at us, welcoming us into their collective storytelling, an art form that can transport us to a different time and space, from 21st-century Scotland to the Arab world of the 11th century. The story begins with the birth of Abu Zayd and other central figures, before following their adventures, battles and conflicts with rival tribes. Abu Zayd gradually establishes himself as a hero through a series of journeys, disguises, duels and reunions. The epic then moves towards the great migration of Banu Hilal from the Arabian Peninsula through Egypt and into North Africa, before reaching its conflicts in Tunisia. Here, Al-Zanati Khalifa, the local ruler, becomes Abu Zayd’s principal opponent, while Diab, another Banu Hilal hero, becomes increasingly driven by ambition. Mar’i and Saada are caught between the opposing sides through their own love story. Eventually, the epic ends in death.
The first half focuses on Abu Zayd’s journey towards becoming a hero, with song and dance forming much of the storytelling. The performers feel almost like modern-day troubadours, singing and dancing their way through his adventures. The second half moves much more rapidly through the epic’s later events. Three trees become a remarkably economical device for passing through a huge amount of material, allowing the production to compress episodes that would otherwise take hours of storytelling into a few moments. At the same time, humour becomes increasingly important, and the further the performance progresses, the more frequently it breaks with conventional storytelling.
Khashabi Theatre, an independent Palestinian theatre in Haifa, was founded by a group of young artists including Bashar Murkus, the writer and director of this production, and Khulood Basel, its dramaturg. The production uses shadow and lighting alongside coloured glass, simple props and human bodies to create images ranging from a mythical bird to thousands of armies marching and battling, sometimes with only four people on stage. It demonstrates how little is actually needed to create the scale of an epic when the performers themselves become the machinery of the story.
However, these elements are not always used with the same subtlety. Some of the more playful moments, particularly as the second half increasingly breaks with conventional storytelling, bring new energy to the performance while also making the theatrical intervention itself rather obvious. At times, it can feel as though the production is drawing attention to its way of telling the story rather than allowing the storytelling to carry the moment.
The performance is accompanied by subtitles projected onto the curtain behind the actors, as well as a regular set of captions positioned around the balcony at Royal Circle level. However, the two sets of subtitles can sometimes differ considerably from each other. Given the speed of some sections of the performance, following the action while also reading the Royal Circle captions can be difficult, particularly when the view of the captions projected onto the curtain is obstructed.
For a story at risk of disappearing, there is something significant in seeing Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah brought back to the stage by Khashabi Theatre. As a contemporary Palestinian theatre company, Khashabi gives this centuries-old epic a new theatrical form, bringing its stories of migration, conflict, love and death to a contemporary audience.
Reviwed on 29 August 2026 | Image: Jess Shurte
The Reviews Hub Star Rating
-
8
