The Mother of Kamal

Last Updated on December 12, 2024

A family’s history brought to the stage at Upstairs at The Gatehouse

Written by Dina Ibrahim, The Mother of Kamal is based on the life events of her family and the memoir written by her father who sought to understand the events that had unfolded decades earlier in pre-revolutionary Iraq. The novel was titled Um-Kamal (Arabic for mother of Kamal). Having dramatised this story for the stage, Dina Ibrahim relates the history of a Jewish family living in the slums of Baghdad in 1948. We are transported to the world of a working-class Jewish-Arabic community where the family is caught up in the turmoil of mid-century politics. The story is told through the eyes of the writer’s grandmother who is Um-Kamal. Not only has Ibrahim written the play, directed by Stephen Freeman, she also plays the role of her grandmother, a strong and complex woman.

Hard as it is to believe in our current polarised politics, there was a time when an array of religions lived peacefully alongside each other in Iraq. Pre-1935 residents of Baghdad lived together without religious conflict. In the 1940s this shifted and anti-Jewish sentiments grew, resulting in the exile and emigration of the vast majority of Iraqi Jews in the 1950s. While fascist mobs and government edicts and injustice made Jewish life increasingly dangerous and precarious, Dina’s family were hidden and protected by their Muslim friends.

With both her sons arrested by the Secret Police for suspected involvement in the Communist Party, their mother is presented with a Sophie’s Choice situation, a secret she has kept for decades with consequences for family relationships and individual guilt and unhappiness. The first half of the play takes place in Iraq while the second half follows the brother’s lives that they are living exiled from their place of birth, one in the US and the other in Israel.

The themes of love and loss, family bonds, fraternal relationships, the nature of truth and the power of secrets to destroy are all written into the script. While the actors put their hearts into this performance of The Mother of Kamal, the script itself needs work.  Running at almost two hours, the play would benefit from some editing. During its first run at Camden Fringe the play ran for an hour and I wondered why this production has almost doubled this. Many scenes could be shortened and some removed. In the spirit of less is more, the details and tangential stories that may work well in the memoir do not all translate onto the stage and if anything, the script is over-ambitious in its scope. The dialogue feels wooden sometimes, and there is a lot of hand-wringing guilt in the script, which loses power through overuse. I thought that the dance sequences might be removed because they jar and feel disconnected from the drama.

Two of the five cast (Manav Chaudhuri and Nalân Burgess) played over eight characters each and showed impressive versatility with special mention to Nalân Burgess who played her roles with sensitivity, humour and warmth. As Sasson and Kamal – the two brothers – Jojo Rosales (making his professional debut) and Mirdit Zhinipotoku were convincing in their childhood playfulness through to their adult agonies despite some of the script’s shortcomings. Dina Ibrahim played her grandmother which must be a most meaningful experience for an actor. Her portrayal of a woman’s maternal anxiety and love for her family as well as her long-held guilt might benefit from a wider range of tonal delivery.

The Mother of Kamal provides insight into a part of history that is not often staged. It has an interesting story at its heart and this production shows promise.

The Mother of Kamal runs until 28 January at Upstairs at The Gatehouse.

The Gatehouse
1 North Rd,
Highgate Village,
London N6 4BD

Looking for something different?  Check our review of Kin at the National Theatre