Review: The Shroud Maker (Pleasance Dome)

Tragically woven tale of life in Palestine

An elderly woman rises from her sewing machine, answers a ringing telephone, sighs and exclaims “Oh shit, it’s you again. Why don’t you fuck off?” It’s not what we expect her to say, but even more unexpected is when she puts on some music for the “grand finale” as bombs begin to drop, and tells us how good the attacks have been for business. She creates shrouds for the dead and charges any grieving family that can afford it a pretty penny. Julia Tarnoky stars as Hajja in The Shroud Maker, by Palestinian writer Ahmed Masoud, telling the story of a life in Palestine over decades.

Rather than simply recalling the tale from behind her sewing machine, a power cut flashes us back to her childhood, and we see her grow up experiencing British colonialism, early motherhood, and encroaching Israeli forces. Her journey to becoming the embittered old woman we met at the start is far from straightforward, and the telling of it makes us long for an ending we know we won’t get. Described as being based on a real-life character, the moments of her life all reflect the realities of life in Palestine over the last eighty-plus years, where peace is rare and your country is never your own. As well as moving deftly from comedy to tragedy, Masoud’s script is able to tell an individual story by drawing on the bigger picture at the same time. It is a shame that sometimes Tarnoky’s performance doesn’t let its heaviest moments settle. She speaks in an unvaried cadence that places emphasis on odd places. Sometimes that just means a joke or two falls flat, but more than once it turns a dramatic moment into mush. Even so, her physicality is strong and her performance manages to convey the subtlety of ageing.

The events of the play take place before the recent escalation, and because of that it achieves two things: being wonderfully written in its own right, and shedding a necessary light on the turmoil every Palestinian has lived with long before last October. It is sometimes hindered and other times enhanced by Tarnoky’s performance, but a script this strong at a time like this is worth seeking out regardless. Four stars.

Whispers from the Crowd: "Really powerful, really well written. The characterisation was so strong, especially playing so many characters without props."

The Shroud Maker will play at Pleasance Dome at 11:05 until August 25th