Yasser

The Palestine-Israel political conflict is regularly front-page news, but Yasser engages with this conflict on a personal level. This one-man play shows the internal struggles of a Palestinian actor about to take on the personal challenge of playing the part of Shakespeare’s Jew, Shylock.

The audience spends the hour with Yasser Mansour (William el Gardi) in his dressing room as he prepares himself for his first performance of The Merchant of Venice. Vividly recreating scenes from his recent past and his childhood, he announces that “being born Palestinian is a political act in itself.” Whether it is in terms of the stricken relationship with his girlfriend Lucy, the treatment he receives in Europe or his childhood games with friends, Palestinian politics is inseparable from the Palestinian person.

Shakespeare and politics are cleverly interwoven—sometimes subtly, sometimes plainly stated—and the audience is treated to a powerful performance of Shylock’s famous “Hath not a Jew eyes…” speech as well as Yasser Arafat impersonations. While these re-creations suffer from a fragmented feeling and occasional unclearness, some scenes are utterly captivating. But the punctuating Middleton Theatre loudspeaker regularly jogs one back to Yasser’s present. An interesting use of light reflected off the dressing table mirrors aids changes in atmosphere and scenes.

This may not be for every Fringe-goer, but those with an interest in politics, Shakespeare and metatheatre will greatly enjoy el Gardi’s passionate performance of this thought-provoking play.