You Bury Me @ Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

Lak to’burny (لَك تُقبرني) in Levantine Arabic literally translates to ‘May you bury me'. It is a term used to convey the suffocating, all-consuming nature of a love that shapes every part of you: a love that you never want to outlive. Ahlam’s You Bury Me is a no-less intense love letter to Cairo and the generation emerging from the ashes of the 2011 Tahir Square uprising.

The play – which won the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2020 – follows the stories of Rafik (Nezar Alderazi), Tamer (Moe Bar-El), Osman (Tarrick Benham), Alia (Hanna Khogali), Lina (Eleanor Nawal), and Maya (Yasemin Özdemir), who are determined to live and love freely four years on from Tahir Square.

You Bury Me exudes all the joy and awkwardness of first dates, first loves, and the slow-burning realisations (and speedy back-of-car outfit changes) that accompany them. Fluid choreography is beautifully deployed throughout, creating a clever counterpoint with a drum beat of unshakeable surveillance. Kareem Samar’s excellent soundscape weaves nostalgic Arabic and English hits from Rhianna’s (elite) Diamonds era, giving a necessary temporal grounding that sometimes feels absent from the script.

The cast of You Bury Me, on stage at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh. Photo: Pamela Raith Photography

Although the play runs just over 90 minutes, the threads of the characters’ stories unravel with a type of urgency that sometimes belies their emotional weight. Despite the indisputable talent of the cast, You Bury Me still feels a little unsure of itself, needing more time and narrative space to lean into its full (powerful) potential.

In the end, though, much like the haunting closing refrains of Dalida’s Helwa Ya Baladi ( حلوة يا بلدي), You Bury Me will stay in your mind long after you leave. It lingers, like the ubiquitous smog of the best and most complicated cites, with just the same ability to draw you back in.

---

You Bury Me, Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until 18 March
lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/you-bury-me-1