Riham Isaac’s experimental performance piece grapples with the meaning of love.
We were all drawn in by the set. A TV on the right hand side of the stage. In front of it, a black old school rotary dial telephone. In between the two, lacy folds of the skirt of a white wedding dress as though the bride had just stepped out of it.
By the time Riham Issac appeared, we were ready to find out (as the woman sitting next to me said), ‘if love was really all life was meant to be about’. Another Lover’s Discourse ليه خلتني احبك uses interviews, classic black and white Egyptian romantic films and music by the Palestinian musician and composer Faris Ishaq to explore love.
Simon Clode’s video design showed images of Issac dancing on the screen up the aisle of a Christian Orthodox church but with no other members of a potential wedding party in sight. The mash up of musings on love was like being offered a box of assorted chocolates with no option to only pick out the ones you would like.
Another Lover’s Discourse ليه خلتني احبك is billed as a conversation but only the audience members who were able to understand the pan-Arab cultural references could fully participate. As someone who loves the magic of multilingual theatre, I was disappointed by Issac’s choice to hold critical sections of the discourse about love through the medium of beautiful songs in Arabic. The humour that was sprinkled throughout the piece would have been more effective with a better use of the translations on screen or theatrical gesture.
Another Lover’s Discourse ليه خلتني احبك emphasised how difficult it can be to make sense of love, and that message was echoed in the experience of watching it. The Studio in the Vault Festival (which is a mini-theatre) is an ideal cosy setting for the performance’s theme. It was a shame that by the time Isaac closed with a rousing version of the iconic song ‘Sawah’ سوّاح (Wanderer/ Vagabond) by the pan-Arab Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, only those who had felt invited into the conversation were able to clap and sing along.
VAULT Festival 2023 runs Tuesday 24th January to Sunday 19th March, full listings and ticket information can be found here.
This review was written by a participant of the VAULT Festival New Critics Programme in partnership with Theatre Weekly. For more information about the VAULT Festival New Critics Programme, and all of our 2023 participants, please visit: https://vaultfestival.com/new-critics-programme/
