Writers: Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué & Bertolt Brecht
Directors: Lina Majdalanie & Rabih Mroué
The meaning of home, or homeland, is at the heart of Four Walls and a Roof, the new project from Lebanese artist duo Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué, which focuses on the story of German playwright Bertolt Brecht as he was questioned about his political affiliations, particularly his connection to communism.
The play begins with the questioning Brecht faced before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), before the later period of McCarthyism. Mroué sits in front of a microphone, angrily going through the questions while demanding that the person being interrogated only answer yes or no, reducing everything to black and white and leaving no room for nuance or background. As the questions accumulate, most connections between the person in question and their political beliefs are suggested, which from another perspective or when placed alongside different questions, could be interpreted in completely different ways. The injustice of the interrogation becomes clear even when the process itself might appear justifiable on the surface.
From there, the play moves through different spaces, discussing blacklisting and censorship, as well as two similar photographs of Brecht, taken just before he fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and America in 1945. The two examine every detail in the photographs, from the boxes and suitcases to the window, pipe and cigar, before finally arriving at a dream where Brecht’s persecution connects with the present. Between each section, Henrik Kairies plays songs by Brecht and Hanns Eisler on the piano.
It is not unusual that when it feels like a major historical event is about to happen, artists look back into history and find something similar, leaving us with the feeling that we never learn. As we learn from the play, Brecht is not the only person who was interrogated by HUAC. Other people working in Hollywood were blacklisted and boycotted by the studio system, including some of the greatest names in the history of art. Thomas Mann is one such example, whose story is also told in Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, which premiered earlier this year. It brings the play back to the word that sits at its core: what is a home, and what makes one call a place their homeland? It is much more than just four walls and a roof.
The subject of Four Walls and a Roof is undoubtedly urgent, but the way the duo delivers it loses some of its force. There are some excellent dry jokes, but much of the show feels like a college lecture, with everything interpreted and explained at length. In doing so, it leaves little room for the audience to make their own connections or observations. The most moving part comes at the end, when the duo connects Brecht’s experience with their own dreams and their history of being treated as Arab immigrants. Here, the ideas that have been explained throughout the show become personal, and the performance finally gives the audience something to feel rather than simply something to understand and learn.
Runs until 17 August 2025 | Image: KFDA Sybille Cornet
The Reviews Hub Star Rating
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6
