Review: A Knock on the Roof by Khawla Ibraheem

The title of this gripping and often darkly funny one-woman play from Syrian-Palestinian theatremaker Khawla Ibraheem refers to the first bomb the IDF drops on buildings in Gaza; the small “knock” telling residents they’ve five minutes (15 if they’re lucky) before the big bomb hits. How far away can you get on foot in five minutes? Especially if, like Ibraheem’s character Mariam, you live on the seventh floor and you’re dragging with you your elderly mother and young son. 

On stage with nothing but a chair, Ibraheem delivers her monologue at breakneck pace but in a conversational style, like we’re neighbours chatting over coffee. We hear of Mariam’s daily life in Gaza: the power cuts, the sewage-filled sea, her son’s adorable inability to fast during Ramadan. Then the war begins, and we’re immersed in the terrifying and surreal reality of living under the threat of annihilation at any moment.

It’s a wordy show but incredibly physical. Mariam begins to obsessively prepare. She jogs forwards and backwards across the stage like she’s in a Rocky montage, taking frantic runs through her neighbourhood at night to build stamina. Evocative lighting and a pulsating score ratchets the tension.

As a study in existential dread, this would be a powerful work at any time, but coming ten months into Israel's brutal war on Gaza it’s devastating and essential. By focusing on the fears of a single citizen, Ibraheem puts a face to the 40,000 Palestinians killed so far in this barbaric conflict.