Theatre review: Oh My Sweet Land

Conceived and performed by Syrian-German actress Corinne Jaber, and written and directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, Oh My Sweet Land looks for an original way to present the story of Syria as seen by its refugees. The scene is Jaber's kitchen, where she chops onions, pummels cuts of meat and throws in spices to make a traditional Syrian dish that she first remembers her grandmother cooking. But the association it now holds for her is more recent, of the man she once cooked Kibbeh for: For a few months in Paris she had an affair with a refugee who was working to help others flee the country as well. When he leaves in the night she realises he's gone back to find his wife and daughter and, feeling the need to see him one last time and know he's all right, she sets off after him.

Theatre review: The Comedy of Errors (RSC / RST & Roundhouse)

The last, for me, in the "What country friends is this?" season (although the first written) is The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare's silliest play, featuring two pairs of identical twins, a gold chain and a fair bit of extramarital shagging, both intentional and accidental. Antipholus of Syracuse (Jonathan McGuinness) arrives in Ephesus with his servant Dromio (Bruce Mackinnon.) They try to blend in and do so a bit too well, unaware that they're being mistaken for their twin brothers, also called Anthipholus (Stephen Hagan) and Dromio (Felix Hayes.) And yes, it continues to irritate me that Antipholus of Syracuse doesn't put two and two together when he actually knows he has an identical twin out there somewhere, which is why he set sail from Syracuse in the first place, to find him; let's just put it down to him being a massive idiot and get on with the review.