Commissioned by London Palestine Film Festival and supported by Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, Good Chance theatres’ A Grain of Sand, dramatised and directed by Elias Matar, is an adaptation from A Million Kites: Testimonies and Poems from the Children of Gaza by Leila Boukarim and Asaf Luzon. Taking an intimate look at war through the eyes of a child and blending Palestinian folklore with real-life testimonies from children in contemporary Gaza, we follow the fraught and dangerous journey of Renad (Sarah Agha), a young Gazan girl, who with the echoes of her grandmother’s tales and the spark of her own imagination, searches for her family and the ‘Anqaa’ – the mythical Palestinian Phoenix.
Large scale crises and the ongoing devastation like the one unfolding in Gaza are incredibly emotive and it is not the purpose of this review to offer comment on that, but rather to focus on the writing, performance, and production.
Natalie Pryce’s minimalist staging – a mound of sand and a chair – is more than enough with a screen to the rear used for projections at various points throughout the 45-minute performance which opens to the sound of crashing waves on a shore, with Agha front and centre to talk us through the unfolding action.
Sadly, this language felt too adult for a child and whilst some recollections were repeated verbatim from the grandmother, many were unfolding events that didn’t feel as if they were being seen through a child’s eyes, or reflective of the mindless chatter that children can express when under intense pressure which was clearly much the case here.
The golden rule of playwriting is to show not tell, yet here we were presented with overly detailed descriptions with not enough accompanying physical expression of fear or heightened vocal during a bombing raid: with supporting sound design from Nick Powell, this felt more akin to a radio drama. It is always a risk when writers direct their own work and although two dramaturgs are noted, it did feel that we were missing the checks and balances that an independent director would bring.
Perhaps something is lost in the translation – it can happen – but then the physical performance needs to come to the fore, yet whilst Agha’s performance was bright and lively, it stayed at the same level throughout, and we never got to see or feel the emotional challenges and fear that her character would be going through other than adult-verbal descriptions of it. There are interspersed moments when the names of children who had inspired this work appear on the screen and Agha steps forward to recount what I understood to be their words yet without any change in her tone this was unclear.
What was probably most telling was that even with an understandably committed and sympathetic audience, they were at their most engaged during the overly long recounting of a folktale involving farting: perhaps they too have become immune to the continued senseless destruction and injustice that resounds throughout the world. Thankfully no one could help but be moved by the final moment as a list of names of the lost children of Gaza scrolls neverendingly across the screen: sometimes there are no words.
Unity Theatre is open to everybody to be inspired and entertained, and to enjoy outstanding live experiences, up-close. Further details https://www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival 2025 is being held from 11th to 20th July 2025 at venues across the city. For further details https://www.arabartsfestival.com/2024-festival-2/
Good Chance theatre began in a tent in Calais with displaced artists and creates groundbreaking theatre to bring people together. Further details https://www.goodchance.org.uk/
Reviewer: Mark Davoren
Reviewed: 18th July 2025
North West End UK Rating: