Written and directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, Oh My Sweet Land is being staged in kitchens throughout New York City. The play was inspired by the stories Mr. Zuabi heard when he travelled to Syrian refugee camps in Amman, Jordan. For this piece, Nadine Malouf performs this solo show while preparing kibbeh, a popular Middle Eastern dish of bulgur, onions, ground meat and spices. While cooking, she tells us stories. One is about Ashraf, her Brooklyn lover and a Syrian exile, who she pursues abroad when he returns home to rescue his family. What will she find when she gets there?
Quite a few stories are told in this deceptively simple play. Because the dialogue is so efficient and the setting so intimate, the experience is akin to inviting someone into your home not only to share their life but also to deliver news from around the world. And since this is such a small space, there is no disappearing into the dark theater with a large audience. This actress intensely meets your gaze. This is serious stuff.
Ms. Malouf is exceptional here. The structure of the play allows her to display many emotions and inner thoughts. From eight feet away, I could see the tears well up in her eyes, full of liquid, sadness, concern, hope and despair. Unlike the television, newspaper or internet, it’s not really possible to look/click away. You are confronted with the thought of fellow human beings in distress. She seems to be making the kibbeh almost as therapy.
We hosted two performances of Oh My Sweet Land for fifteen people each night. The Play Company brings this all to life with chairs, lighting, sound effects which, from my seat, made our kitchen disappear. In replacement, empathy. For the Syrian people, for our immigrants and for humanity’s continual struggle to allow others the pursuit of happiness. At a little more than an hour long, that’s quite a piece of theater.
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