Women Who Blow on Knots – Arcola Theatre, London

Writer: Leyla Nazli

Director: Lerzan Pamir

Set in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the premise of Leyla Nazli’s stage adaptation of Ece Temelkuran’s novel and its meaning takes some while to crystallise, only really taking shape late in the first act when its three protagonists and their older neighbour, who adopts them, embark on a mysterious car journey to who knows where. Although Women Who Blew on Knots certainly has scale, covering five countries, a great deal of political exposition and gender-based discrimination in the Middle East, the characterisation ultimately suffers, making it difficult to comprehend these different women and invest in their unexplained friendship.

Friends, Eve (Ganze Şanli), a journalist, Amira (Antonia Salib), a dancer, and Maryam (Livia Arditti), an academic obsessed with Dido, spend most of their time in Tunisia discussing the political fallout and their plans when they meet Madam Lilla who convinces them to join her on an adventure, a chance to discover who they all are, but also companions on Lilla’s journey through the story of her life and on to the man who has wronged her.

With its strong focus on the power of travelling and the value of storytelling and myth-making, Women Who Blew on Knots never really arrives at a destination. Taking dialogue from the novel feels laboured and drawn out, giving a rather jagged sense of chats and debates that never properly coalesce into a single fully meaningful reflection on the countries the women pass through – Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia included – or on the experience of love, womanhood, betrayal or any of the things these women talk about for more than two hours.

Before they meet Lilla, the show stalls with a lot of weighty explanations that are never clear enough as the characters rather loosely debate the revolution and the emergence of political parties, along with Dido’s story and the men they’ve known. Sometimes, people they meet have conversations without them, too. These are relatively meaningless when they disappear forever moments later while the protagonists forget about major events and plot twists surprisingly quickly. Yet, this is all at a surface level, and the rather aimless talking does little to set the scene for the sometimes comedy, sometimes drama approach. True to the scope of the book it may be, but it isn’t dramatically dynamic, unfortunately.

One of the show’s major problems is the poor characterisation, and Nazli’s adaptation relies on giving them different jobs and countries of origin as proxy for fully-rounded personalities. But even this proves hollow when ultimately three adults trail around after Madam Lilla for days, becoming observers of her drama and never revealing enough to make us care about each of them as individuals, their friendship or the secrets they carry, some of which are left unexplained.

It’s not clear what Women Who Blow on Knots is about or, despite one brief reference, how the meaning of the title applies to the story that is presented. Nicola Ansari-Cox’s Madam Lilla is the only creation with any real trajectory, and there is some enjoyment to be had in her flouting of expectations, but by the end of the play – which overshoots its running time – everyone has talked an awful lot and ultimately said not very much.

Runs until 23 November 2024