Theatre review: Dear Glasgow, Glasgow Oran Mor

THERE will never be two identical performances of this second show in the Play, Pie and Pint Arab Spring season.

Commissioned by David Greig and David MacLennan from senior writers across the Arab world, to reflect on the recent revolutions, the seven letters that form the text will be read every day by a different group of Scottish writers, so that by the time Dear Glasgow appears at the Traverse in a few weeks, the show may have a very different character.

The first Glasgow audience was privileged to see the letters read by Liz Lochhead, Andrew O’Hagan, Alan Bissett and Louise Welsh, each of whom brought a huge moral authority to the task. From the tight focus of Syrian novelist Samar Yazbek’s account of being caught up in a demonstration in a Damascus Square, to the understated poetry of the story of an old garden caper bush, told by Palestinian writer Adania Shibili, the letters offer a huge variety of approaches to writing about the politics of the Arab world.

The two that stand out most vividly are the ones which deal most directly with the political situation; a passionate denunciation of the betrayal of the Tahrir Square revolution written by the Egyptian critic Nehad Selaia, and a stunning personal testament to the experience of being a Palestinian under occupation, by the theatre director Abdelfateh Abusrour. This last is a magnificent piece of prose, glowing with a fierce commitment to universal human values that puts western cynicism to shame.

Andrew O’Hagan’s spine-shivering performance of it was a momentous piece of theatre, one that I hope will be repeated by other readers, as this beautiful and important piece of living history continues its life.

Rating; ****