Bread & Roses Theatre – until 12 July 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Arif Silverman’s spellbinding storytelling weaves a timeless tale of love and war.
Told by the last survivor of his people, the chapters of the story are marked by 3 objects placed around the stage.
A quill signals the story of a young boy, full of love and joy for the world around him – breathless descriptions of the marketplace and later, even the battleground, highlight this boy’s artistic vision. After hearing a master speak, he vows to work on his writing to devise a piece to gain entry to the school of revered writers and storytellers. He falls in love with a girl who has fled from her country after an invasion by an unnamed but brutal enemy, which gives his words added fervour, but is not accepted. In this section, the plight of refugees, and their acceptance by their new neighbours is broached with a delicate touch – this is a naïve young boy asking about why a religion and nation is persecuted and annihilated. The gentle acceptance as villagers help build the refugees a new temple is beautifully told.
Silverman’s narrator then takes a wooden staff – the sword – and the story of how the enemy’s approach to the nation’s borders makes them take up the sword and defend themselves begins. A people who admire and value artistry in words begin to admire the artistry of the warrior, until the reality and brutality of war is revealed in poetically bloody detail.
The final object – a pendant, is the necklace the girl wears to remind herself of her father, killed by the enemy. Silverman puts this on as the narrator tells of the only seasoned warrior’s despair as she tells the nation that all is lost as the people question where the gods are.
Directed with a delicate touch by Kazeem Akinsanya and Neha Hemachandra, Aaron Molloy’s atmospheric lighting enhances the mystical aura. The themes of love, loss, religion, persecution and the inhumane brutality and futility of war all weave together to create an otherworldly but familiar landscape and saga for our narrator to share. Told in iambic pentameter, using lyrical and charismatic language, the story soars to heights of ecstasy and plumbs the depths of the horrors of war with style and flair. Silverman is an engaging writer and storyteller, moving around the stage and making searing eye contact with the audience as he performs this captivating story.