Anna Burnside reviews a production ‘with a mixture of breathless urgency and dry wit.’
How do you prepare for war? When it might, actually, knock on your roof? That’s the premise of Khawla Ibraheem’s mouth-drying one-woman play, about a woman living in Gaza at the start of the Israeli assault in October 2023.
When attacking civilian areas, the Israeli Defence Force often drop small, “warning” bombs around five minutes before the real onslaught starts. Ibraheem’s protagonist, Mariam, obsesses about this scenario.
How far will she be able to run in five minutes? She starts jogging around the neighbourhood at night, setting timers to monitor her progress.
What about her four-year-old son? She fills a pillowcase with old books and practises carrying “Pillowcase Noor” on her midnight training sessions.
Her mother, who has moved in while Mariam’s husband is studying overseas, starts working out with her. Soon the whole family is escape-fit.
Ibraheem, who wrote A Knock on the Roof, performs it with a mixture of breathless urgency and dry wit. Her husband, constantly ringing with the same old questions, is driving her nuts. Noor wants to go swimming in the filthy sea. Living with your mother is not easy when there’s not a war on, never mind when there is.
Juxtaposing the banalities of children’s snacks and cartoons with the imminent threat of mortar fire and roadside bombs makes this one of the most moving depictions of life during wartime Edinburgh has to offer.
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A Knock on the Roof performs at the Traverse Theatre until August 25, 2024. Check the theatre’s website for specific performance times.
Photo by Alex Brenner.
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