Review: GREY ROCK – ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2023 at Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 10th March 2023.

Written and Directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, Grey Rock is the story of retired TV repairer, Yusuf, a resident of a village in the occupied West Bank. Thinking about the American moon landing in 1969, he decides that Palestine should join the Space Race and sets out to build a rocket, in his garden shed, with minimal budget, and whatever information he can find on the Internet. One cannot help but think for a moment of the first Wallace and Gromit animation, A Grand Day Out. Yusuf is making a grand gesture. This performance, written and performed in English, features the five actors from the original production.

It is a very whimsical piece, absurdist, demanding suspension of disbelief, but there is much more below the surface. Although checkpoints, visas, and the Israeli army are mentioned, highlighting that this all happens in a place where there is no freedom, it is not about the conflict. It is an allegory, with Yusuf attempting the ultimate freedom; from the planet.

Three years after his wife's death, Yusuf seems to have changed, exercising, and more positive. His daughter, Lila, suspects that there is a new woman in his life. Little does she know what has really captured his imagination. A young vegetable deliveryman, Fadel, works out what Yusuf is really doing and wants to help him in his endeavours. Yusuf eventually, but reluctantly, agrees to accept Fadel's help, and all goes ahead.

Yusuf's daughter, and her fiancé, Jawad, wonder what is going on in the shed, and where Yusuf is getting the money that he is spending. Jawad is concerned that Yusuf is a collaborator, being paid for assisting the occupying forces. When they discover Yusuf's plans, Jawad is even more horrified, and concerned for how it will reflect on his family if he marries Lila. There is also the ever-present fear of discovery by the Israeli Army.

Yusuf has no intention of abandoning his dream, and presses on regardless. Realising that the corner of his house is not going to be tall enough, he asks the local imam, whom he calls Sheik, if he can use one of the mosque's minarets as a launch gantry. The moon landing brought the world together, briefly, Yusuf hopes that his rocket will do the same, and the imam also recognises the potential for drawing the world's attention to Palestine.

Lila and Fadel persuade Yusuf to post a video on social media, and it goes viral, attracting the attention of the world's media. When he is ready to launch, he is watched all around the globe, achieving that aim of uniting people everywhere.

Yusuf, who is dedicating his project to his much loved and grieved late wife, is played by Khalifa Natour who gives a compelling performance in the role. He establishes a warm relationship with Fidaa Zaidan as his daughter, Lila, who has a journey of her own, as her character comes to accept that she wants, and can have, more than just a safe, comfortable life as a wife of an overbearing businessman.

Luca Kamleh Chapman, as Fadel, gives a nicely balanced performance as a character who also grows through his involvement in Yusuf's project, overcoming his insecurity and shyness to win the girl of his dreams.

Motaz Malhees adds a touch of humour as the pragmatic, influential, and wily Sheik, and Alaa Shehada, as Jawad, creates a character who demands a dutiful future wife and mother who will stay in the background and do what is expected of her, and does not like to be challenged or thwarted. He gets his comeuppance.

Each represents a different reaction to Yusuf's secret project, and together they create a number of interesting and varying relationships. The play is about both very big ideas, and small, almost insignificant events, the other stories running alongside and being influenced by the main one.

The production has a minimal design by Tal Yarden, with a white curtain angled across the stage as the shed wall, a section of which lifts to expose the inside, where the back wall is covered with diagrammes and Yusuf sits on the single chair at his desk. The lighting and projections are by Muaz al Jubeb, with sound by Katie Down.

There are plenty of light-hearted moments, and comedy, but layers of deeper meaning, too. There is a lot more to this piece than appears on the surface. It was a full house on the night that I attended, but you might still be able to get tickets for other performances if you hurry.

Photography, Roy Van Der Vegt.