Naima Khan reviews Alecky Blythe's Do We Look Like Refugees?!
In Do We Look Like Refugees?!, playwright Alecky Blythe presents us with an hour of solid verbatim theatre that sets her characters apart from other refugees by highlighting their remaining, and increasing sense of community and tradition. Not exactly a radical point, but one that is rarely made so well when addressing the issue of displacement.
In fifty short minutes we meet hairdressers, former journalists, bread-sellers, old ladies who like to swear and men who talk about love. All strike a cord with the audience via a fantastic cast, but such a brief overview of their stories means viewers are still left at the periphery of this play and we're not taken on much of a journey.
Do We Look Like Refugees?! provides a glance at the communities near Tbilisi, Georgia, including the newly displaced South Ossetians from the separatist region disputed with Russia in 2008. The villagers of Akhalgori are a particular focus and their hope, pride and frustration are conveyed compellingly and sweetly by the cast of five in front of huge background images – sometimes moving, sometimes still.
The images allow us to visit the characters at their workplaces: a solitary outdoor stall, a welcoming salon and a bare office among them. They are atmospheric, modest but stirring, and they make the set, which consists mostly of a few washing lines, feel unnecessary. The combination of these clever film clips and slides coupled with folk songs and the raw, often funny words of the refugees makes up an intriguing collage, but the script doesn't provide enough context.
Do We Look Like Refugees?! is a layered show that explores the thoughts of an uprooted community. It doesn't make much of an effort to guide the audience in any direction and many will consider this a huge plus. It's not remotely manipulative of its viewers nor overly emotional in its content, but others will feel that it doesn't leave as much of an impression as it could.
Do We Look Like Refugees?! runs at Riverside Studios until 29th May.
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