BEIRUT ADRENALINE
WORLD PREMIERE IN ENGLISH, EXCLUSIVE TO DOWNSTAIRS THEATRE / BELVOIR ST THEATRE
Beirut Adrenaline is a powerful exposé of the civil war in Lebanon by French Lebanese playwrights Hala Ghosn and Jalie Barcilon. After rave reviews in France and Lebanon, this cogent drama finally opens in Australia.
Follow our Australian/Middle Eastern cast as they unfold the story of the Daher family in 1986. Zyad and his sister Mona escape to Paris, while their brother Marwan is stuck in Beirut. He kills time on his balcony, chatting with his new neighbours. There is no electricity, hardly any water, checkpoints everywhere and yes, the occasional bombing and killing. Yet life goes on, alongside the hopes and dreams that make it all bearable. Alternating between France and Lebanon, between the Western world and the Orient, Beirut Adrenaline is a moving piece of theatre analysing the various ways we as humans deal with tragedy.
Translated from French by Anna Jahjah and Kris Shalvey
Directed by Anna Jahjah
With Danielle Dona, Naveen Hanna, Mansoor Noor, Eli Saad, Sana’a Shaik and Delphine Vuagnoux
Feedback/Comments
Great play
A play that certainly made you think, laugh and cry. Amazing use of simple set and sound. Very thought provoking about belonging to more than one culture but not wanting any of it.
Loved it. Great theatre. Great performances
Ìnteresting look at the effect of war on normal people
Interesting insight into the war in Lebanon and the effect on the lives of ordinary people. Great performance by Neveen Hanna as neighbour Rima and by Mansour Noor as her younger brother, Toufic , who gets sucked into the conflict as a combatant and suffers the consequences of the realities of war. Has relevance even today,given the ongoing conflicts in the Middle east.
A good insight into the personal and physical impact of War. While the awfulness of the situation was clear, the direction felt chaotic at times.
Good cast and yes a confronting play. Yet so fast moving that your not overcome by all the sadness, very apt using Adrenaline in the title. Instead you see the individual stories unfold during the mid 70's, mainly in the city Beirut, once called 'the Paris of the Middle East.
The plot was very interesting and some of the acting was outstanding.
Well performed by the cast, could have done without the dull genealogy at the end
IF, and I say 'IF' in capital letters, because it is not the first time that I may have misunderstood a message...
If the play is about the feeling of hopelessness and frustration, no, rather anger and resentment that one would feel from the hopelessness and loss of seeing any future, that I believe was being portrayed by the actors... feelings that I know I could never feel or understand... in fact that I almost cannot believe might be part of anybody's life, coming from a life that cannot fathom the ongoing struggle and feeling of loss and hopelessness one might feel in Lebanon... or anywhere in the world where such frightening situations persist...
then the play succeeded totally in bringing me into those very feelings, of making me part of that world.
And what frightened me most, as I walked out of the theatre, was the realisation that maybe places, worlds like the Lebanon I saw then, are not becoming more human like the world we live in... but that our world, our lives, may well becoming more like the world I saw there, in Beirut Adrenaline.
A thought provoking and relevant piece of writing which could have benefitted from more provocative and inspired direction and more consistent quality of acting. The result was that the play dragged at times and lost some of its impact.
An excellent production, the cast were superb and a little surprised to get a curtain call. A fascinating play that had the audience leaning forward and pensive. Funny, sad - I learned something of peoples struggle with a history of war from watching this.
Enjoyed the theatre
Quite interesting and engaging