Review: THE HORSE OF JENIN, Bush Theatre

Photo credit: Harry Elletson

The Horse of Jenin was a sculpture constructed in 2003 from debris in the city of Jenin in the West Bank, after multiple bombardments by the IDF. It was a symbol of peace and hope for Jenin’s people, and was destroyed by the Israeli armed forces in 2023. It was a patchwork of rubble, a chimera of suffering soldered against everyday life in occupied Palestine, and it is the subject of Alaa Shehada’s acclaimed one-man show of the same name.

Shehada bursts onto stage celebratory, encouraging interaction and engagement from the go, and sets the tone for his whole show: fun, lively, rich, clever, but with a simmering sense that something is going to go wrong. He is doing comedy in a war zone, building his life, his character and indeed his very show from pieces of his childhood in Jenin. It is a time that visibly fills him with nostalgia and pride, and that is interrupted skilfully by the violence and oppression he faced only when it feels necessary. Shehada is not here to make you cry (although he might): he’s here to make you laugh. And he’ll certainly do that.

The 75-minute show follows Shehada as he grows up in Jenin. Anecdotal, punctuated by sections of Arabic-only commedia dell’arte, it feels unusual, but still recognisable. He revels in the absurdity of his own upbringing, and conjures a childhood that the audience is immersed in immediately. He exhausts himself assuming the physicality of himself at 9, at 12, at 17, carrying the audience along happily through English lessons, first love and his discovery of the theatre as a maybe-viable career path. It’s all done with authenticity and warmth that gets the audience chuckling straight away and sustains their attention for the entire run time.

Directors Katrien van Beurden and Thomas van Ouwerkerk dedicate themselves to keeping the audience engaged, and keeping things moving. Fourth-wall breaking is signposted but not overused. The meta-narrative of a play about pieces of Jenin stuck together isn’t easy to miss, not least because Shehada jumps from past to present, Arabic to English, physical performance to stand-up. The segments of mime/clowning that break up the narrative perhaps take the wind out of the story’s sails slightly, taking away time from the most compelling aspect (Shehada’s raconteuring), although the audience seem happy to laugh along.

Already set to transfer to the main house in January 2026, The Horse of Jenin and its message of endurance and stubborn humour in the face of unimaginable horror is pitched perfectly for the Bush’s audience, and the current global climate. It’s a humanising and unpretentious piece of theatre that’s part observational comedy routine, part-pantomime, that has won many many people over already.

Jagged parts making a beautiful whole.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Oli Burgin

The Horse of Jenin plays at London’s Bush Theatre until 22 January, with further info here.