Daniel Nelson

Here’s another way of tackling insularity or xenophobia in Britain

Write and perform a short, funny piece of physical theatre, Mohand & Peter, that takes you on a trip to, in this case, Sudan.

Mohand can’t go home so takes an imaginary visit instead, with his Newcastle friend Peter. For Mohand it’s a trip down memory lane, for Peter it’s a hot, mosquito-ridden world - alien but sometimes beguiling.

They clowning mime their way unforgiving traffic, milk a cow, ride camels, meet Mohand’s family (”How are your parents, your grandparents, your neighbours”), take a bumpy bike ride, listen to honey-sweet music, get dangerously involved in a #BlueforSudan demo and swim for their lives in a simple but effectively lit Nile, and of course attend a party next to a palm tree lit by fairy lights.

Our talented, playful tour guides, Mohand Hasb Alrosol Abdairahem and Tynesider Peter Pearson, skilfully handle both the knockabout and the serious moments. Points are made, but implicitly.

It is, in other words, a hoot. Shoe-horning an entire, vast country into an hour or so means it’s a tour of cliches, but audience members of Sudanese heritage  at the Southwark Playhouse, together with people who had visited the country, gave it a ululating welcome, happy to bask briefly in a vibrant culture of extended families, warm hospitality, delicious food - and twice as many pyramids as Egypt. Happy, also, to savour memories, to feel at home and to understand the nuances of your surroundings, instead of trying to decipher the words and attitudes of Britons.

So hats off for director Sophie Bertrand Besse, who says in the pamphlet that accompanies the two-man show: “Every day for the past five years since we created Borderline [theatre company], I witnessed how much my cast miss their homes. I saw pictures of beautiful lakes, mountains, and ancient buildings; Videos of family gatherings, birthdays, and silly cats. I FaceTimed brothers, sisters, but also nieces and nephews. Those precious little ones that we are lucky to spoil at weekends but that the people I work with have never held in their arms because they are not allowed to go back. Not for a wedding, not for a funeral, never. Their country is not just a war zone or a Talibans’ nest, it’s their homes. With Mohand & Peter, we aim to celebrate them.” 

* Mohand & Peter, £22/ conc £18, is at the Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, SE1, until 2 March. Info: 7407 0234/ southwarkplayhouse.co.uk