Suppliants of Syria | Hoxton Hall

Suppliants of Syria has all the promise of a fantastic piece of political and activist theatre. The intention to create parallels between Aeschylus’ original Greek Theatre piece The Suppliants and the modern-day Syrian refugee crisis is clear and admirable. The idea is that presenting an ancient Greek text alongside modern-day testimony from Syrian women refugees will show audiences that the problems back then are the problems we face today. And that we should fight back against the current rhetoric of closed borders and remember that refugees are not the enemy.

This is everything Suppliants of Syria tries and ultimately fails to do. The show is incredibly bogged down by the multimedia aspect (which in this instance is just audio and visual footage/interviews and a live debate with the audience), the over-sentimentalisation of the text and personal storytelling, and drawn-out exposition throughout the show.

Suppliants of Syria starts with the original Aeschylus text from his play The Suppliants. It is then followed by the three actors spread out on stage, explaining directly to the audience about ancient Greek theatre, what it is, and how it was presented in ancient Greek society. This exposition is neither engaging nor clever. It’s as if someone is reading a Wikipedia page to the audience, and sadly this continues throughout the show. What should be show not tell, as this is live theatre after all, becomes tell and never show.

The Greek chorus of women is in the form of a group of Syrian refugee women who were filmed in Turkey. They speak the lines of the chorus, moving in slow motion as one. Their words feel highly charged at times and they are compelling. But they are also only on a screen and eventually this constant reverting back to the film becomes tiresome.

The show itself splits into many directions, following the plot of Aeschylus’ play, personal testimony from the Syrian refugee women, personal stories from the three actors about their experience with the project, and then theatricalised scenes that react to the themes brought up in the play. If that feels scattered and overwhelming to you, that’s because it was.

Ultimately, Suppliants of Syria needed some serious editing before it opened. Everything felt extremely long, and the show lasted nearly 2 hours. There was a live debate section that was incredibly painful as well, which dragged the show on longer than necessary. And while the debate aspect brought something different to the show, it felt unnecessary because 1. They introduced the debate about letting the refugees into the country after the plot had already allowed the refugees in and 2. When you’re in a room full of theatre audience members who have come to see a show about Syrian refugees, you’re not going to get any differing opinions about welcoming refugees. Everyone in that room is on side. There is really nothing to debate.

There is also a bit in the middle of the show where the three men on stage started debating rape and consent. This felt like such a shock, as its relation to the story was minimal at best. They brought up rape due to the Syrian women’s testimonies about the horrors inflicted on them by ISIS. This internal debate tried to be fair, but ultimately it felt at times offensive. Yes, talking about consent is very important and is a topic men need to engage with. But to bring it up after women have told their story of being raped during a brutal regime - it’s not the same thing. The men who assaulted these women were never thinking about consent. They were brutalising them in the most horrific and dehumanising way. So adding a scene about consent feels not only inappropriate but horribly tone-deaf.

It is disheartening to know that a show with such good intentions could produce something dull and out of touch. Oftentimes, it felt like we were watching a GCSE performance. And this is the ultimate issue with Suppliants of Syria. It relies on the crutch of ethics and goodwill too much, leaving everyone in the room feeling exhausted and unchanged. And if political theatre like this is to change the hearts and minds of people here in the UK, it still has a long way to go before that happens.

Suppliants of Syria plays at Hoxton Hall until 08th March - tickets and more information can be found here.

★★☆☆☆ (2*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by John Cobb