As we are all aware, the spotlight is currently beaming on the East End of London and in order to celebrate this fact, many events are taking place to commemorate this momentous occasion. I was lucky enough to view a couple of shows at the Yard Theatre as part of the Theatre of Great Britain Festival. The Return conceived and researched by Dina Mousawi is about a young girls journey from her hometown Bradford to occupied Iraq.More after the break.

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Through various perspectives, the voices of the unheard are amplified and given a platform to display their thoughts and feelings on current events. This experimental piece was a melting pot of vivid imagery from the cast placing themselves behind the Saris attached upstage to the wall to the numerous projections of emails and video diary entries. This for me was a huge strength of the piece as it employed unique tactics to engage the audience on a very topical subject. This strength was also due to the ensemble working brilliantly together to create the various scenarios and worlds of these multiple characters. However for me I didn’t warm to the comic moments as much as they felt out of place. There were various jokes, which were told that didn’t really work for me. I felt the piece was artistic but I wanted to go on an emotional journey with these characters, which I wasn’t able to, for that reason I give The Return a 3/5.

3/5

The Return
Directed by Poonam Brah
The Yard Theatre