Theatre review: The Band's Visit

A number of interesting shows start with a "what if?" premise. In the case of David Yazbek (music & lyrics) and Itamar Moses' (book) 2016 musical The Band's Visit, the question is "What if Come From Away, but bearable?" Based on an Israeli film, this also features unexpected visitors to a sleepy town, but in a much more low-key way: In 1996, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra travel from Egypt to Israel to perform at an Arabic culture festival in the bustling city of Petah Tikva. But a mixup at the airport leads to them getting the bus to Bet Hatikva, a tiny, sleepy town in the middle of nowhere. By the time they realise their mistake they're already there, and the next bus back to the city isn't until the next day. There's no hotel, so café owner Dina (Miri Mesika) takes in conductor Tewfiq (Alon Moni Aboutboul) and trumpet player Haled (Sharif Afifi) herself, and arranges for other locals to find space for the rest of the band for the night.

Apart from both making the connection to the basic premise of Come From Away, Phill and I both came out of this show calling it "quite nice," which isn't to damn it with faint praise as much at it probably sounds like.

But we're definitely in low-key territory, and this is very much a gentle character piece - there really isn't any more plot than what I've already described, and Michael Longhurst's production for the Donald and Margot Warehouse quietly lets us sit back and watch the strangers have an effect on each other. Sargon Yelda's Simon stays with widower Avrum (Peter Polycarpou) and bickering young married couple Itzik (Marc Antolin) and Iris (Michal Horowicz,) over the course of which he helps them reconcile as well as finishing an incomplete clarinet piece he'd been composing. Meanwhile Haled, who's been dealing with his upcoming arranged marriage by becoming a self-styled ladies' man, goes to the roller disco with Papi (Harel Glazer) and helps him get over his shyness with the girl he likes.

Dina taking Tewfiq out for a meal teases a central romance, but the question hangs over it whether there's anything genuine there, or just the lonely café owner living out a romantic fantasy from her favourite Omar Sharif films. Unsurprisingly, Yazbek's songs aren't a succession of belting show-stoppers but a mix of the quietly contemplative and the endrearingly witty, and they're charmingly performed by Longhurst's cast. I can't see The Band's Visit being a show that has a massive lasting impact on me, but it could be the perfect relaxing antidote to a stressful day - and between big showbiz fireworks and hard-hitting politics, that gentler form of escapism is something theatre doesn't provide a lot of.

The Band's Visit by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses, based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin, is booking until the 3rd of December at the Donmar Warehouse.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner.