Judi Herman is captured by Josh Azouz’s revealing, shocking – and funny – narrative
A schematic pitiless sun glares down on levels of woodblocks, standing in for sand as designed by Max Johns, on an unfortunate man apparently buried up to his neck. The figure standing over him explains that he has been ordered to urinate on his face. The prisoner is actually relieved – thinking his last hour had come, he'd been reciting the Shema, the most iconic of Hebrew prayers. It is soon clear that the men are close, Jewish prisoner and his Arab guard equally trapped into the roles of captive and tormentor in this labour camp run by the the ruthless eponymous German occupiers.
The real tormentor proves to be the Nazi officer embodying that power, though being top dog in Tunisia, it seems, is actually a demotion for the dangerously – though comically – unhinged veteran commandant who revels in terrorising the locals – and in his ironic nickname ‘Grandma’.
From the moment Ade Edmondson’s Grandma hobbles up to the hole where Ethan Kai’s empathetic Youssef is forced to guard Pierro Niel-Mee's defiant Victor, the threat of violence is palpable. Edmondson (using a walking stick for real due to an injury) brings all his characteristic madcap comedic charisma to the disturbing game of cat and mouse he plays with both men to gain, it transpires, access to Victor’s wife.
With a light touch, writer Josh Azouz establishes character, relationships and personal histories against the background of the long history of often uneasy Muslim/Jewish coexistence in Tunisia and its brief (six-month), brutal 1942-43 German occupation. His play lives up to its title, conjuring a raft of violent though brilliant America-set movies.
Azouz has a fine sense of dramatic timing, for having raised expectations about how this new way of tormenting Victor by proxy will play out, he takes the action back in time from the height of the occupation to its start. The sandy location here is the beach, where he introduces not only Victor’s wife Loys, but also Youssef’s wife Faiza (perfectly matched Yasmin Paige and Laura Hanna, both excellent). Despite the underlying tensions of the political situation, these close friends are ostensibly exchanging confidences, though there’s a tension between them too. When their menfolk join them, even the fun of ice cream cones only serves to exacerbate the discomfiture underlying the relationships between all four.
Fast forward to 1943, where Grandma has invited himself to dinner with Loys (bed and breakfast is his endgame). Edmondson excels at being at once terrifying and ridiculous, but his prey is feisty and the drama has all the makings of a wartime thriller.
It is, though, rather more. With flight a better option than fight, the question of whether to head for Palestine leads to heated debate between Victor and Loys. The concept of the Jewish homeland is bandied about between the couple with Youssef joining the debate; elsewhere, Grandma mocks the idea, declaring Hitler a Zionist. We may be disparaging about ‘the benefit of hindsight’, but there’s genuine poignancy in Loys’ metaphor: “We’ve been guests in other people’s homes for thousands of years.”
Director Eleanor Rhode has a real feel for Azouz’s rhythm and style and the whole company excel in sharing the complexity and immediacy of his engrossing, brutally funny drama.
By Judi Herman
Photos by Marc Brenner
Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied Tunisia runs until Saturday 18 September. 7.30pm, 2.30pm (Sat & Wed only). £10-£43.50. Almeida Theatre, N1 1TA. 020 7359 4404. almeida.co.uk
Listen to our interview with playwright Josh Azouz on JR OutLoud.