Thursday, February 28, 2008

Artefacts, The Bush Theatre, London

Rating: ****/5
Wednesday, 20 February 2008.

Mike Bartlett is one of England's newest playwriting talents. After the success of last year's My Child at the Royal Court, he's back with a new play at the Gate Theatre, Artefacts

Kelly is your typical London girl, a bit flaky and chronically addicted to her mobile phone. One day, she learns her father is Iraqi. He comes to visit her all of a sudden, bringing with him a strange artefact that will change her life in this transcontinental story that shifts between London and Baghdad. 

Bartlett is brave to tackle subjects he's probably never experienced first hand, and his use of Iraqi folklore and Arabic language within the play are extraordinary, bringing us momentarily closer to the experience of these Iraqi people and at the same time allowing us the necessary sense of estrangement.

Lizzy Watts as chatty Kelly and Peter Polycarpou as his sober father Ibrahim give excellent lead performances. 

The play is presented in the centre of a theatre-in-the-square setting, the space covered in Persian carpets spliced together and covered with glistening rubble. 

One hopes that the play, as it progressed, concluded with a message other than one that's almost apathetic toward our consumer culture, one where Kelly had taken more from this experience, but still it's a play that keeps its audience on its toes and provokes a conversation across cultural borders.

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