Yousef Seid. Photo by Holly Revell.

Between the River and the Sea by Yousef Seid and Isabella Sedlak – Royal Court Theatre Upstairs

Yousef Seid’s one-man, which he has written with Isabella Sedlak and performs himself, is an exploration of identity in the most contested setting of all: Israel. The show is autobiographical, and Seid discusses the experience of being an Christian-Arab Israeli. He grew up in Haifa, an Israeli citizen but not the kind who fits into perceived categories. The show was originally presented in Berlin, where Seid now lives with his family having decided that his children did not need the tensions that came with living in Israel. He himself has run up against abuse as a child for being an Arab, and for not being Arab enough. He is in the process of getting divorced from his second wife who, like his first wife, is Jewish.

Seid’s performance is open and genuine, and it feels as though he is compelled to tell us a story he simply cannot keep to himself. He tells us he does not want to talk about politics, and instead filters his experiences through a personal lens. He performs the voices of his father, girlfriends, school friends and adult friends by stepping to the side and addressing the space he has just vacated through a mic. He is very adept at this, using physical characterisations to identify the people he voices, for example the kindergarten child who picks his nose while informing Seid he’s a dirty Arab. He also speaks in English, Arab and German at various points, straddling cultural boundaries all the way.

Of course, there is no avoiding the politics and the show eventually brings us to a place where Seid, in the eyes of others has to choose. The October 7 attacks split Israelis and Palestinians like nothing before, and suddenly he found there was no room in anyone’s lives for somebody perceived not to take sides. A close Israeli friend ends contact when they feel he does not understand their feelings about relations who were murdered; a Palestinian friend feels he does not sympathise over her friends sexually assaulted and arrested by IDF soldiers. It is heartbreaking to witness the impact at individual level of divisive political discourse which makes nuance and understanding a despised commodity. Seid is left to fantasise about a utopia without Middle Eastern borders, where no-one cares who you are – a scenario that terrifies us we consider how entirely unobtainable such a world remains.