Edinburgh Fringe 2009
Low Down
Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea is Guy Masterson Productions’ response to the Israeli bombardment and invasion of the Gaza strip in December ‘08/January ’09. It combines the true stories of writer Ahmed Masoud’s own family with verbatim testimonies drawn from international media and eyewitness accounts. ‘Go and drink from the sea’ is an Arabic expression that means ‘go to hell’, a phrase frequently used by Arafat when defending Palestine, which became something of a pun when popular slang adopted the phrase. This thoughtfully staged production examines what makes the phrase ‘Go to Gaza’ just so appropriately synonymous with ‘go to hell’.
Review
Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea is Guy Masterson Production’s response to the Israeli bombardment and invasion of the Gaza strip in December ‘08/January ’09. It combines the true stories of writer Ahmed Masoud’s own family with verbatim testimonies drawn from international media and eyewitness accounts. ‘Go and drink from the sea’ is an Arabic expression that means ‘go to hell’, a phrase frequently used by Arafat when defending Palestine. This became something of a pun when popular slang adopted the phrase, making ‘Go to Gaza’ appropriately synonymous with ‘go to hell’.
The merging of the literal and metaphorical continues as we meet a young man on Gaza beach. As he is abruptly joined by a dust covered figure from underground, we learn that Sharaf seeks his own death – something his mysterious companion cynically points out will soon find him in blockaded, aerially bombed Gaza. This ‘tunnel trader’ performs more than a straightforward narrative function. Acting as a kind of messenger from the underworld, he leads Sharaf through the lives of his fellow Palestinians and even to that of a conscientious objector in a Tel Aviv bar, until Sharaf comes to a conclusion as to the part he will play – or not play – in the conflict.
Impressively staged, the set consists of piles of rubble constructed of thousands of pairs of shoes, which wordlessly comment on the fate of their owners. It is a particularly clever turning around of our Holocaust associations with thousands of pairs of empty shoes. Other devices are not so subtle – the attempt to contextualise the numbers of missing children in Gaza with reference to Madeleine McCann falls awkwardly. It is also a shame that the overly self-conscious frame detracts from the urgent humanity that should otherwise drive this piece. There were moments where I felt oddly detached, largely due to the fact that I was never allowed to fully engage with any of the characters. Yet there were other moments that resonated – the description of the water that even goats won’t willingly drink brought home the everyday reality of life in blockaded Gaza better than the moments of high drama, painful though they are.
Perhaps the feeling of being presented to rather than being caught up in an unfolding drama forces an intellectual response, one that prevents the audience from achieving any kind of easy catharsis. It’s not a perfect show, but it is a considered, thought-provoking response to one of the most difficult crises of our modern times.
