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Two Palestinians Go Dogging
Royal Court Upstairs
THE Royal Court is outdoing itself with their show titles this year and Sami Ibrahim’s Two Palestinians Go Dogging surely takes the comedic crown. And those hoping to hear more about the outdoor sex scene in the occupied territories won’t be disappointed.
It is just a matter of minutes before we’re transported to 2043 and the village of Beit al-Qadir, a contested piece of land next to an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem. Subject to regular Israeli Defence Force patrols, it also doubles as the local dogging hotspot.
Reem (Hala Omran), our renegade narrator and matriarch of the Hajri family, isn’t joking when she tells us that “we get turned on by the risk.” Or is she? It’s never easy to tell in Ibrahim’s tongue-in-cheek rollercoaster of a play.
As the fifth intifada begins, Jawad (Luca Kamleh Chapman), the son of Reem and her bumbling husband Sayeed (Miltos Yerolemou), has murdered an IDF conscript by dropping a cinder block on her head.
During chapter one, titled Bibi Says, a “reanimated corpse” of Benjamin Netanyahu declares that “Israel will not rest until the death of Sara Yadin is avenged.”
Across the following 27 sprawling chapters (plus an epilogue) we’re served many sharp insights from a society decimated by state violence.
Disappointingly, they are supplemented by indulgent theatrical exercises which aren’t aided by a meandering pace to the dialogue.
The play is at its best in scenes like chapter 14, Fucking Winning, in which Reem and Sayeed reflect on the very literal sacrifices of their children in their liberation struggle.
Or chapter 23 where the calcified body of Jawad’s cousin Tariq (Joe Hadad), trapped by barbed wire, has turned into a tourist attraction called The Fallen Palestinian. It’s a farcically haunting scene.
The rambling monologue of the previous chapter — in which we’re given an ad-hoc history of Israeli occupation by a settler — is a low point. Straining for comedy it fails to land and serves little purpose
A lively multi-rolling cast give their all but can’t do enough to distract from the show’s shortcomings.
You get the sense that Ibrahim has so much to offload about the Palestinian struggle that the need for dramatic tension has long been forgotten in the creation of this show.
Runs until June 1 2022. Box office: Box office (020) 7383-9034, royalcourttheatre.com.
