Adapted from Christy Lefteri's bestselling novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo bends space and time as apiarist Nuri and artist Afra are forced to leave their wartorn home following explosive political unrest at the beginning of the Syrian Civil War.
The pair endure unimaginable tragedy as they passage through Turkey, Greece and England.
Unravelling Nuri and Afra's past lives through flashbacks while they wait for a decision on their asylum status in the UK, the play jumps from present day to pre-war to the thick of the couple's plight living on the streets of a Greek island.
Occasionally, the shifts of time were pulled off to great effect, making good use of sound design and projections.
However, the play suffered at times from stilted direction and a lack of depth from characters other than the main protagonist.
While Joseph Long's supporting role as the Moroccan man added a touch of humour and humanity, it felt no other supporting member had the chance to stand out.
It was clear to see that the cast and the designers had all worked incredibly hard to bring this performance to life.
However, given that the source material revolves around a complex narrative of loss, suffering and the search for hope traversing many months and more than 2,500 miles, it was a very tall order.
I so wanted to love this play - but other than it reminding me of how great the novel was, it sadly fell a bit short.
Despite the play not fully living up to the source material, special credit has to be given to Alfred Clay for his brilliant performance of Nuri - Mr Clay portrayed the emotional development of Nuri with vigour - and Elaha Soroor, Tingying Dong and Ravi Deepres - the team responsible for the music, sound and video design - deserve high praise for their work in creating the more immersive moments in the play.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo continues at Norwich Theatre Royal until Saturday, May 13 and will be at Cambridge Arts Theatre from Tuesday, May 16 until Saturday, May 20.
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