Dina Ibrahim in The Mother of Kamal [Gary Manhine

BASED on real events inspired by her father’s memoir-novel Um-Kamal, Dina Ibrahim’s play follows the tumultuous fortunes of a Jewish family growing up as part of a working-class Jewish-Arabic community in pre-revolutionary Iraq.

The Mother of Kamal opens in the slums of Baghdad. Um-Kamal (Ibrahim), her husband (Manav Chaudhuri), sons Kamal (Mirdrit Zhinipotoku) and Sasson (Jojo Rosales), and daughter Rosette (Nalan Burgess) struggle against the oppression of the times.

In the 1940s, urban unrest and anti-Jewish sentiments are on the rise and the family often have to rely on their Muslim friends to protect them.

By 1948, the government’s secret police are everywhere. When Kamal and Sasson are arrested as communists, Um Kamal is given a terrible choice.

Kamal is freed, becomes a successful doctor and moves to the US. Sasson serves eight years in prison and, on his release, leaves for Israel. A mutual distrust remains unspoken between the two brothers.
The story is full of potential but Ibrahim tries to cram too much into one play and running at two hours with an interval feels overlong.

Director Stephen Freeman does his best, but several scenes could have cut as they add little to the main plot.

We never get a chance to truly connect with any of the characters as we’re racing to keep up with the numerous shifts in time and setting.

The performances are uneven – adults playing children is always hard to pull off, and Ibrahim relies too much on arm gestures and agonised expressions as their sorrowful mother. Chaudhuri and Burgess shine in various adult roles although some are superfluous.

There’s plenty to resonate with a modern audience, but Ibrahim is perhaps too close to the material – a tighter, leaner drama would have been more satisfying.

Until January 28
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