Palestine: Peace de Resistance – Park Theatre, London

Writer: Sami Abu Wardeh

Director: Sam Beale

Part clown show, part storytelling, Palestine: Peace de Resistance, has the format of a variety show where Sami Abu Wardeh inhabits various multi-talented performers who bring drastically different approaches to the story of Britain’s relationship with Palestine. It’s handy then that Abu Wardeh is immensely charismatic and has significant talent in many trades. He’s an expert puppeteer, an engaging emotional storyteller, a fantastic dancer, and a decent flair bartender.

All of this is bound together by two common threads: the necessity of violent resistance to defeat colonisation and daft humour. The juxtaposition of bloody oppression with graphic (mimed) make-out sessions creates a unique environment in which colonial trauma gets real laughs. Abu Wardeh plays with his Palestinian/Irish/British identity throughout to magnificent satirical effect.

Abu Wardeh’s style is typified by the elevation and sudden collapse of status. He elevates himself with florid language, refined balletic movement, and charming flirtatiousness only to have it fall down in a millisecond through goofy puns, ugly thrusting, or crass chat-up lines. He is, in other words, a brilliant clown. He starts to veer away from clowning in his compere role, a Fast Show-esque club host who tells “walks into a bar” jokes and bookends every punchline with a gulp of whiskey.

Only when he is telling a weaving multi-generational story does Abu Wardeh fully depart from his role as clown, and yet, in his maximalist portrayal of the accents, postures, and expressions of these characters, it is as if the clown still beats at the heart of this more serious tale. In this, it is clear that Sam Beale’s direction comes from a deep knowledge of and insight into comedy, and yet, together with Abu Wardeh, they have developed a genuinely touching performance. Although most jokes are satisfyingly at the coloniser’s expense, there are a few occasions where the multi-cultural representations veer into lazy stereotypes. Nevertheless, the effect is more disappointing than offensive.

Where Palestine: Peace de Resistance falls short is in its structural continuity. It is a bit of a hodgepodge of ideas, and while many are fiercely powerful and draw hearty laughs from the audience, some lack political oomph or comedic heft. In particular, some of the cocktail-making interjections and dances don’t do much to serve the narrative and leave the room feeling a little flat. There is a sense in which they seem to serve the overall need to ‘take a break’ from the serious topics within the main story, but where the puppetry pieces seem to combine laughs with an allegorical tale of resistance, these lighter interruptions don’t hit home in the same way.

Despite the few moments which fail to live up to the sky-high standards of the rest of the piece, Palestine: Peace de Resistance is consistently touching, hilarious, and Abu Wardeh’s charismatic clowning should be a major draw for any audience.

Runs until 7 February 2026 and continues to tour