من الأشهر اليوم؟

Playground theatre, LondonA woman waits to be stoned for adultery in a curious piece reminiscent of Beckett
Brian Cox, so deliciously appalling as Logan Roy in Succession, is the headline draw in this production. Cox is not acting but directing Joshua Sobol’s curious play and he does so with a light touch. The setting is an unnamed location in the Middle East, where a woman, Layla (Nicole Ansari, the director’s wife), awaits death by stoning after having an adulterous affair. Buried in a mound of sand, Layla shares her last moments with her lover and student, Nur (Adam Sina).
That might sound painfully intense but Sobol’s play is laced with dark humour and underpinned by a fierce sexual charge. Beckett’s Happy Days looms large here, although Layla’s situation is more extreme than even Beckett might have imagined. In Happy Days, Winnie’s arms are initially free but, at the start of Sinners, Layla sits buried up to her shoulders and shrouded in a brown cloak. When Layla talks wistfully of the sun caressing her face, she looks like a strange creature or a ghost. It’s one of many unsettling moments, prompting guilty bursts of uncertain laughter. Continue reading...