Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond – until 22nd April 2023
Reviewed by Bobbi Fenton
5*****
‘You Bury Me’, brilliantly written by Ahlam, has left me absolutely speechless. There is not a single combination of words that could accurately describe how fantastic this play is.
Set in Cairo, Egypt, with scenes ranging from 1997 to 2015, ‘You Bury Me’ tells the story of six individuals whose lives are intertwined. The main focus of this play is the revolution of 2011, and how this affects these six individuals and their relationships with one another and with the city. We have revolutionary blogger and journalist Osman (Tarrick Benham), his rebellious half-sister Maya (Yasemin Özdemir), her friend from high school, the permanently nervous Lina (Eleanor Nawal), Osman’s friend Rafik (Nezar Alderazi), who moves in with Osman after his parents have thrown him out after catching him with a boy, Alia (Hanna Khogali) whose father and uncles are police officers, and her boyfriend Tamer (Moe Bar-El), who is a Christian. We watch as these characters navigate life in a city that is metaphorically, and later literally, burning to the ground under the rule of a Tyrant. When blogging in support of the revolution, having the app Grindr downloaded on your phone, losing your virginity accidentally before marriage, being the one to accidentally take said virginity, or kissing another girl are all things that are potentially dangerous if witnessed by the wrong person, these characters are living in fear of going missing. Everybody should be able to relate to at least one of these experiences, whether it’s figuring out your sexuality as a teenager, sneaking around with a partner, or having and expressing strong political beliefs, and yet the circumstances make it so that these relatable experiences are also completely unique to these characters. I particularly enjoyed the ending of the play, where the audience feels a sense of impending doom that something bad is going to happen to each of the characters as they battle with trying to escape their inevitable fates.
This incredibly powerful play is spectacular, and it would be a huge mistake to miss it. It is no wonder that it won the women’s prize for playwriting in 2020.