A History of Water in the Middle East

by Sabrina Mahfouz

A History of Water in the Middle East Top / Details / Extras / The Company
Thu 10 Oct - Sat 16 Nov 2019

“What form can something take without water?”

British Egyptian Sabrina Mahfouz always loved the mix of places and rivers she grew up around – Thames, Tees, Nile, Essequibo. But when she applied to be a spy, she realised that in Britain an identity not easily defined can be considered a risk, in ways she was not aware of before.

So now she’s on her own intelligence mission – to explore how the water of the Middle East has enabled British power through the ages; and how Britain still effects landscapes, lives and legacies in the Middle East today.

Directed by Stef O’Driscoll, the production journeys across twelve different countries using theatre, poetry and music to share stories of women across the region. From the British Imperialist ownership of natural resources, to the environmental urgency of the present, water has shaped conflicts, policies and fortunes – and it will shape all of our futures.

Writer Sabrina Mahfouz has been called ‘Theatrical dynamite’ by The Independent and ‘[one of] our most interesting playwrights’ by Lyn Gardner in The Guardian.

★ ★ ★ ★

"Poet Sabrina Mahfouz uses songs, music and humour to deliver an impassioned assault on British imperialism"

The Guardian | Michael Billington Read full review

★ ★ ★ ★

" [A] pulsing and intoxicating excavation of British imperialism in the Middle East"

The Stage | Ava Wong Davies Read full review

★ ★ ★ ★

"Education, entertainment and sheer incandescent fury co-exist side by side in this remarkable, genre-confounding new show"

WhatsOnStage | Alun Hood Read full review

★ ★ ★ ★

"The show is alive to its immediate social context, weaving the past through it to capture the cyclical, exhaustive nature of the threat to water"

Broadway World | Bryony Rae Taylor Read full review

★ ★ ★ ★

"This reviewer would have gone to a lot more of his lectures if they had been conducted by Sabrina Mahfouz"

The Upcoming | Connor Campbell Read full review

"Mahfouz writes with poetic vigour and concision, and some passages are positively word-drunk and roaring with passion"

The Arts Desk | Aleks Sierz Read full review

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