Harrogate Theatre – Wednesday 28th September 2022. Touring until Saturday 22nd October
Reviewed by Aimee Liddington
5*****
Angel is a one woman show performed by Yasemin Özdemir which tells the story of a young girl who enters devotedly into a mission to find and protect her father in the face of ISIS soldiers. Rehana is a farmer’s daughter and an aspiring lawyer, much to her father’s disappointment (he’d rather her take over the farm). She’s grown up with a backdrop of violence and conflict and although she’s been prepared for it, she never thought she’d be faced with it herself. When trouble arrives Rehana’s innocent aspirations are ripped away from her and she is left to defend herself against an army of evil.
This story is the third in a trilogy written by Henry Naylor and first hit the stage at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016. Since then, the performance which is directed by Peter Doran has been seen by many audiences around the world and continues to shed light onto the lives of faceless Kurdish families who were forced to flee their homes in Kobane in 2014.
With a simple set and lighting designed by Sean Crowley and Andrew Sturley, all eyes are on Özdemir who captures the audience’s attention from her first entrance onto the stage. She bewitches the audience with her careful and considered characterisation which has been developed and crafted with elegance and passion. We see Özdemir change her characterisation throughout the performance as she goes from being charming and childlike to stone faced and hardened by the death and destruction that falls around her. At the end of the performance, Özdemir’s passion for the cause is apparent as she comes out of character to thank the audience for watching.
Everyday thousands of families are forced to flee their homes to find refuge in safety. If that’s something you can’t even bring yourself to imagine then consider coming to see this production – it’ll help you gain an insight into the lives of so many people around the world.