Theatre review: A History of Water in the Middle East

A History of Water in the Middle East sounds like the title of a lecture, and that’s its conceit – and kind of what it is, albeit in an inevitably more theatrical form Upstairs at the Royal Court. It has an unlikely origin: Writer/performer Sabrina Mahfouz has dual British/Egyptian nationality which, when she graduated from university, made her of interest to MI5 recruiters. She applied to become a British spy, but found that the vetting process seemed to be ruling her out largely because of the same background that had made her a candidate in the first place. One of the sticking points was her thesis about water in the Middle East, and the many ways over the last two centuries that it’s been both used as an instrument of colonisation and weaponised in the conflicts that followed. Together with Laura Hanna, who has a similar ethnic background to Mahfouz and does the heavy lifting where the singing’s concerned, she gives us a potted history of the region through story and song.

And it really is a potted history, as the show covers a dozen countries in an hour, beginning with the way the British Empire’s presence in India meant making numerous Middle Eastern countries protectorates (an arrangement whose similarity to “protection racket” doesn’t end with the terminology) to use their rivers and, eventually, the Suez Canal as trade routes.

Britain and the USA’s imperialist treatment of the region comes in for a bashing, as does the use of it as a handy place for the victors to leave people and things they didn't want to deal with after both the First and Second World War, but the play is subtle enough to take in the way that was only the starting point of the complex geopolitical situation that now sees the area’s scarcity of water used as a weapon. It uses poetry, song and storytelling to build its picture, with a recurring theme being imagined testimonies from women affected by the events – including Hanna as a Jordanian woman in 2050, whose training as a plumber has liberated her in a way rare for women in the region.

Stef O'Driscoll’s production ties all the elements together in what’s described as a gig-lecture: Khadija Raza’s design and Prema Mehta’s lighting give the theatre a club feel to mirror Mahfouz’s description of herself as a raver; the neon strips of light on the ceiling are in the shapes of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates. One undoubted highlight is the music, which composer Kareem Samara also performs live – even if the history occasionally gets a bit dry it’s always fascinating to watch him play a number of instruments simultaneously, with only a small amount pre-recorded.

I was less convinced by the interludes with a spy (David Mumeni, who also gets a brief turn as Mahfouz’ karaoke-loving father, giving us the history of the Suez Canal to the tune of “Sweet Caroline.”) The spy is vetting her past for possible conflicts, and while the idea does eventually coalesce in the way her questioning of the history she’s been taught makes her seem suspicious to him, it does result in the show feeling more fractured than it already is. Still, it’s an entertaining hour and an informative one, and it gives a strong argument to Mahfouz’ case that oil wasn’t the first or only liquid to have a huge impact on the politics of the Middle East.

A History of Water in the Middle East by Sabrina Mahfouz is booking until the 16th of November at the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.

Running time: 1 hour straight through.

Photo credit: Craig Sugden.