Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea (Edinburgh)
under the microscope in Justin Butcher and Ahmed Masoud’s moving 80
minute piece Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea.
The play, due to its subject matter, is naturally somewhatsubjective in its portrayal of the Palestinian people and their plight
– a plight with which the play’s sole Israeli character empathises.
As smoke slithers across the stage, often masking designer Jane
Frere’s emotive backdrop of rubble erected from shoes of those who have
died in the conflict, the story of a young Palestinian man unfolds.
“What are you looking for?” he is asked. “My death” he utters calmly.
Having remarked that popular slang adopted the phrase “Go to Gaza”
as an expression for “Go to Hell”, the uncertain protagonist is led
from scene to scene and shown the many ways that one can die in this
war-torn area – whether by bomb, act of heroism or one’s own hand –
and, as he fulfils his destiny in dramatic fashion, his actions
effectively highlight the sacrifices made by many Palestinians in their
struggle to achieve freedom.
Combining song, dance and hard-hitting monologue, the play is, to
quote Masoud, “able to transport a live picture to audiences in the
UK”, and, other than a slightly bizarre reference to Madeleine McCann,
that is achieved in a suitably shocking yet enlightening manner.
– Jamie Kempton
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