Writer: Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi
Director: Tanushka Marah
A tale that travels all the way from the streets of Baghdad to Beirut, to the UK via Berlin is a significant challenge. But From The Daughter of a Dictator is a triumph in storytelling that takes an unflinching look at migration and navigates a cacophonous world full of injustice and hope.
Torn pages from books hang from the ceiling with golden wire, and an intimate atmosphere sets a hush over the audience before the house lights have gone down. When the lights do darken, sole-performer Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi spends the first moments of her story laboriously squeezing seeds out of a pomegranate, and the audience can do nothing except lean in and listen.
Ghrawi accompanies the audience through her story of migration to the UK with a fragmented narrative of personal anecdotes and key moments in history that shaped Iraq, Lebanon and the Middle East. We bear witness to a journey from a student visa to a work visa, to a spouse visa, to refugee status, interspersed with music, song, dance and even questions from the UK Citizenship test (which the whole audience struggles to answer).
It seems a collective effort has made this production excel at all levels. Ghrawi’s superb performance is set at a captivatingly measured pace with excellent direction from Tanushka Marah. Collaborative efforts from Pepa Duarte, Tina Afiyan Breiova and Emma Bonnici successfully weave together what is no doubt the story of many into a seamless pastiche. The narrative brings together Ghrawi’s family history and events like the martyrdom of Mohamed Bouazizi that sowed the seeds of the Arab Spring without a hitch. Wherever the story takes us, it is as enthralling as it is important.
The resounding note of the play homes in on the concept of the ‘The West’. Ghrawi walks slowly across the small stage, something which can now be illegal on the road under the new anti-protest legislation included in the Nationality and Borders Bill. There are complex comparisons to be made, injustices that are alluded to which need to be addressed, but Ghrawi, a veteran in dictatorship, simply says ‘We’re closer than we think’.
A well-deserved standing ovation brings an end to this short play. It is a masterclass in excellent theatre-making, and the echoing desire to preserve the human right to dream and to have hope, is where the power resides in this startling piece of theatre.
Runs until 4 July 2023
