Return & Hands Across The Sea @ The Yard Theatre

‘Return’ and ‘Hands Across The Sea’ mark the first two shows of the Yard Theatre’s ‘Theatre of Great Britain’ festival.

‘Return‘ dramatises the experiences of Dina Mousawi, a young lady of Iraqi descent who went to the Middle East to discover what life was like for women in post-Saddam Iraq – Mousawi also devised the play and takes three of the parts. Topped and tailed by scenes set in an airport, through interviews, telephone calls and emails we hear about loss, betrayal and complicity in the lives of women dealing with the fallout of the dictator’s regime, but there’s also longing and hope for the future. The play features a strong ensemble cast of six women, with the clear audience favourite being the character of matriarch ‘Nana’ played convincingly by the youthful Rachael Hilton. Neatly-devised visual cues are used to great effect throughout to communicate the online exchanges between Dina, her family and interviewees, including projection, video montages, body paint and even embroidery! ‘Return’ is a solid and well-performed play that deftly tackles a very difficult subject – highly recommended.

As part of the ‘Theatre of Great Britain’ festival each evening pairs a main play with a separate smaller performance. Accompanying ‘Return’ is ‘Hands Across The Sea‘, Nina Feldman’s monologue about connecting all those places tied together by Queen Victoria through the medium of postcards. ‘Hands Across The Sea’ is funny, gentle and poignant – Feldman is a consummate performer, and looking around the audience it was clear that we were all totally enraptured by the warmth and sincerity of her story. Don’t forget to bring your sticky-back plastic to the performance!

‘Return’ and ‘Hands Across The Sea’ were a fine pairing to start the ‘Theatre of Britain’ Festival, and run until this Saturday, 7 July. From 10 July ‘Younghusband’ and ‘London’s Perverted Children’ make up the bill, and from 17 July its ‘An Oasis in 5 Parts’ and ‘Chewing Gum Dreams. Finally, from 24 to 28 July the two plays twinned together are ‘And We Gather’ and ‘Jack’. You can find all the ticket information at the Yard Theatre’s website here – you can also follow them both on Twitter and Facebook.