On entering the theatre proper, I saw that the stage was painted in what the lights made it look like two shades of blue, a darker blue in the middle, in a circular form. Behind were rows of shirts hanging up along with other household items.
Then Hamzeh appeared and treated us to an impromptu gymnastic display on the stage, before standing up and in so doing challenged us in our views about who is and isn’t disabled. We were then given an introduction, by Hamzeh about how welcome everyone was, and we were told how the words in the play would be displayed in two languages English and Arabic.
Life in a refugee camp
To the sound of Arabic music Hamzeh started talking about life in camp in Jordan and his dreams of putting on a big show with Arabella and became a translator. We learn how he sat in meetings with all the others speaking in English, while Hamzeh just smiles and nods. By his own admission, Hamzeh was a terrible translator!
Hamzeh then skilfully used the circle in the middle of the stage to draw a chalk map of the Za’atari camp in Jordan, complete with a road down the middle called the Champs Elysee… Hamzeh then split the circle intro different sections of the camp with12 districts, 40 streets containing in all 84 000 people. At one time, one out of every five Syrians were in camps in Jordan.
We were also reminded that there were many other Syrians in other countries, with 14 million in all having to leave their homes, due to the war that erupted after 2011. We were also pointedly reminded that 25,000 of these 14 million Syrians had come to live in the UK – 0.2% of the total.
We were then told more about life in Za ‘atari camp, including how in the winter everything seemed to turn red; the sky, the land and so on. How it was so dry that people died due to the dust. This revelation was followed by more on getting by in the camp, accompanied by loud music.
Throughout all these stories, Hamzeh used a lot of humour to portray what was undoubtedly a very difficult life amid gritty reality of both the ableism shown against him and at the same time being a refugee. Hamzeh lived in the camp for six years.
In England
Then the mood changed with sombre music and Hamzeh crawling and struggling on the stage. He was now living in Gateshead and having trouble cooking chicken in a house with a smoke alarm… We learnt how Hamzeh went to college and on coming home would ring his mum for information about recipes…
Meanwhile Hamzeh was not only learning English, but also learning Geordie, while dreaming of becoming professional dancer. Hamzeh then passed lemons round the audience and using them as a symbol of home, talked of life in Syria – the smells, the sights, what he did. He also talked poignantly of people laughing at him because he was disabled and the way he walked and of the heartache of it all…how they called him Penguin…and how sometimes he thought that he was nothing – a bird that can’t even fly…
To change the mood, we heard a song of freedom and a story about a soldier coming onto the bus, raising questions about the Issue of disability and the army.
Then came another lighter moment when Hamzeh offered two members of the audience the chance to play in a game of marbles. Two audience members duly came up to play on stage, while one of the marbles represented the Sun and another the Moon. Again, there was plenty of humour!
All became sombre again as we saw how Hamzeh’s village was bombed, and we see him hiding in a cave. We learn how he had seen a refugee camp on TV never thinking it would be home for him and his family.
Then the action moved to Newcastle Quayside as Hamzeh went in a pub and ended up dancing on a table! The freedom of dancing!
We learnt about Hamzeh leaving the camp and going to England on a plane, while his mother and sister were still in camp. He had been able to grow a small garden.
Hamzeh hoped that people would be more educated in England but soon found that people in UK also laughed at him, due to his disability. but were perhaps more subtle, secretly filming him on their phones.
Then we saw how Hamzeh got a mobility scooter to go and see the Angel of the North but had a crash while riding it. All his confidence drained from him, and he felt like the useless penguin again. But he remembered the postcard with the Angel of the North on it.
Then Hamzeh learnt that Assad had left Syria and of all the celebrations…
A search for identity
Hamzeh left one of his most poignant lines until very near the end, when he simply pronounced; “This is who I am”
This was a tremendous performance from Hamzeh, who challenged the audience in their preconceptions about refugees, ableism and what essentially makes up a human being.
Hamzeh had taken us on his journey into the battle to be somebody. In so doing he had skilfully weaved stories together and while some of the stories were sad. He had also used a lot of humour to lighten the mood.
It was an excellent performance of what is rightly regarded by many as an outstanding example of storytelling, from the pere4xpective of someone whose stories are not often allowed to be told…
Question and Answer session
After the show there was a question and answer session with Hamzah, people from the refugee and theatre sectors, and an Arabic interpreter. Hamzeh explained how he acted in the camp, doing awareness raising and educational work. Amy Golding, co-creator and director, talked about the process of putting the show together and telling stories… how they recorded stories and drew diagrams with the circle idea coming from them. The difficulty was what to leave out. They had produced a ten-minute version for the Star and Shadow in 2019, before the pandemic came along.
Finally in 2022, they had got rehearsals going, thinking about way Hamza moves and then adding the music. It was noted that Hamzeh had been touring theatre around the camp and was now touring round theatres.
We were also told how the play worked back in Jordan, with some of the more Geordie sections omitted!
Some reminders
This remarkable play and performer were a reminder that asylum seekers are every bit as human as you and me. When one considers what Hamzeh and so many other Syrians had to go through it is also remarkable just how much humour was present in the play.
But it was great to see the warm welcome Hamzah received and with it another reminder; asylum seekers who come to Britain have gifts and knowledge which they bring with them and which we should try to nurture so that such gifts can enhance all our lives.
Hamzeh has found who he really is. Perhaps we all need to do the same.
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