Yard theatre, London
Even in times of peace, the medical staff training to go into a war zone can’t avoid conflict in Sami Ibrahim’s engaging play
Questions of crisis spiral in Sami Ibrahim’s thoughtful but strangely paced play. There is the personal strife of mediator Nicki (Mariah Louca); the political disasters that joker Dan (Peter Corboy) can’t tear his eyes from in the news; and the crisis of care that threatens to ruin the reputation of the organisation for which the four characters work. In a bland meeting room, this group of medical staff is training to offer humanitarian aid in war zones. But how can they expect to manage around active conflict if they can barely survive a few weeks together in peace?
Jaz Woodcock-Stewart’s production has short, fragmentary scenes, headache-inducing beats and snippets of hypothetical situations in which the participants are pushed closer to admitting they can’t handle what they have signed up for. These conversations get deep quickly, but it’s the lighter, incidental chats during the breaks that reveal most about their characters, as grieving Khaled (Luca Kamleh Chapman) and fixer-upper Sarah (Rosa Robson) grow closer, and Dan – unfairly picked on by the others – accidentally learns about Nicki’s troubles. These soft moments of connection are gracefully done; tiny glances of awkwardness, little seeds of growing trust.
