Waiting for the knock on the roof
Photo: Royal Court Theatre
Daniel Nelson
Khawla Ibraheem got the idea for her monologue, A Knock On The Roof, about four years ago. Conflict in Gaza has made it even more topical now.
That’s hardly surprising. As she points out, the latest war is not the first even for her solo character’s six-year-old son, Nour.
So Mariam, the young cool mum in the play, is ready to react to the sound of the warning bomb on the roof – which gives tenants 5-15 minutes to evacuate before a bigger bomb drops.
It’s an extraordinary situation in real life, and it makes an extraordinary basis for the 75–minute play at the Royal Court.
Her plan is to have a bag packed in readiness to scoop up her son and run.
Anxious about surviving, she practices regularly, building up her speed and stamina, so that when the real knock comes she can be out of the door and streets away before the second bomb strikes.
Between runs she talks about her life, about her son, her overseas husband, her flat-share mother, about her neighbour Yasmeen, the loose tile on the first floor, going to the beach, her bewilderment about finding herself married, power cuts and water shortages, about showering in a dress in case the bomb comes and her body is found naked, about face cream and exhaustion.
She also describes what and who she sees in the broken streets, including a nervous soldier and boys playing funerals.
It’s a funny and frightening slice of life in extreme times, loving and honest, sardonic and disturbing, and shocking that this is anyone’s life.
Mariam, written and played by Ibraheem, is trying to make a life that is normal in conditions of extreme stress. No wonder that it sometimes feels shouty. How could it be otherwise, in the midst of so many pressures?
Entertaining seems an inappropriate word to describe the production. Director Oliver Butier is nearer the mark: “She becomes obsessed with athletically preparing her body and mind to save herself and the people she loves as best she can. She’s a character in a unique situation, a wartime situation, but trying to make that fun and also universal feels like it’s very much of now.”
It really does.
Superb.
A Knock On The Roof, written and performed by Khawla Ibraheem, £15-£39, is at the Royal Court, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS until 8 March. Info: Royal Court