Review: A GRAIN OF SAND, Arcola Theatre

Since the 7th of October 2023 nearly 20000 children have been killed in Gaza. This number doesn’t include the kids who are still buried under the debris, or maimed by the bombs, or missing. Israel’s strikes on the innocent are ongoing, even after the so-called ceasefire came into action last year. The Arcola Theatre is presenting an intimate one-woman show adapted from Leila Boukarim and Asaf Luzon’s collection A Million Kites: Testimonies and Poems from the Children of Gaza. Written and directed by Elias Matar under commission of the London Palestine Film Festival, A Grain of Sand is a harrowing look at a senseless genocide. Though incredibly powerful, the production is flawed and doesn’t fulfil its dramatic potential.

Sarah Agha portrays Renad, an 11-year-old girl from the north of the strip who wants to be a storyteller when she grows up. Separated from her family, she sets off by herself to find them among the rubble and the continuing threats. Along the way, she pleads with the Anqaa (the Palestinian Phoenix) to come and save them all as the bird has done many times before. The stories woven by her grandmother flood her reality as a hopeful escape while she walks the dusty streets, dodging bombs and gunshots, depicting the innumerable acts of violence that she sees.

While the intention is noble, the piece exhibits definite weaknesses on many sides. Agha’s performance is a little stiff and nervous throughout, tipping into unnecessary histrionics whenever she infantilises her character. Matar’s writing tries hard to blend poetry with childlike wonder, attempting to balance Renad’s jarring maturity with quirky tangents and irrelevant remarks. Moments of frank beauty alternate with sequences where the script is simplistic and creaky, making it an unstable experience.

Nevertheless, A Grain of Sand makes many valuable points. Matar succeeds in delivering a play that shocks subtly. Agha steps out of the main narrative to offer words taken directly from the source material. The names and provenance of the writers are projected on a sheet before they become part of Renad herself when she goes back to her storyline. As she turns to the audience with a plea for remembrance, the scene is inundated with the list of all the children who have been murdered. Their names and ages keep coming, relentless and heartbreaking, in a most touching and arresting punctuation.

This is an act of resistance at a time when Palestinian voices are still shut down arbitrarily. The work that’s being done by Good Chance Theatre and the Arcola is commendable, and it’s important to note that the theatre didn’t relegate this project to their basement studio, but gave it a substantial engagement in their main house. We shouldn’t praise the bare minimum, but given the way the industry is going (a playwriting competition has even been announced in order to combat “overtly political” plays now…), we feel that runs like this are to be celebrated.

A Grain of Sand runs at the Arcola Theatre until 31 January and touring the UK after.