Review: One-Man LOVE, BOMBS & APPLES at the Kennedy Center

Middle East conflict is normally not thought of a rich source of laughter, but Hassan Abdulrazzak's "Love, Bombs & Apples" finds a way to be amusing as well as a thought-provoking way to reconsider the conflicts.

The work was born when actor Asif Khan did a student performance of the short scene that begins the one-man piece, and looked up the Iraqi playwright to have him complete a full night featuring three other unconventional men making way in the world.

Presented for a two-night run at the Kennedy Center to close out this year's World Stages season with The Sundance Institute Program, "Love, Bomb & Apples" begins with the scene that first captured Khan, about Palestinian in Ramallah itching to hook up with aspirational NGO volunteer, only to find the perfect abandoned site for their ardor the wall with Israel.

Before that metaphor has a chance to sink in (and Israeli police surround and heckle them), we're off to a second scene where a nerdy, aspiring Pakistani-born novelist is arrested when his post-9/11 epic novel is interpreted by authorities as a terrorist manifesto.

In a third segment, a UK Muslim invades the local mall's Apple store for his own personal jihad, equating iPhones with ISIS along the way.

And in the last, and longest vignette, a New York Jew with a Zionist father tries to talk his "Jews for Palestine" girlfriend into a personal grooming, only to find his slang for landing strip reverting to its military application.

It all could be the basis of a strong stand-up comedy set, especially with the energy that Khan invests into all of it, but director Rosamunde Hutt, who has presented the work to approving audiences from Edinburgh to San Francisco since its 2015 debut, has found a way to fully bring out each character, on Mila Sanders' modest stage settings, lit by Charlie Lucas.

By concentrating on the humanity of each character, and their basic (and sometimes base) sexual desires of two of them, Abdulrazzak's "Love, Bombs & Apples" manages to bring age old conflicts into a sharp contemporary focus, doing so with the kind of comedy that those from any side of the issues can appreciate.

Running time: 90 minutes.

Photo credit: Asif Khan in Hassan Abdulrazzak's "Love, Bombs & Apples." Photo by Mila Sanders.

"Love, Bombs & Apples" was performed March 20 and 21 at the Kennedy Center, as part of its World World Stages season in conjunction with The Sundance Institute Program. Information online.

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