Theatre Review: Lines, Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield - A pillar of decolonisation.

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Have you ever crossed a moment where you felt read through and through? A moment where your trauma and healed wounds synchronise and resurface right in front of you? Perhaps invisible to others, but simultaneously weighing you down? Well, ‘Lines’, the most recent co-production between Sheffield Theatres, John Rwothomack and Fidaa Zidan had the power to bring those moments into reality, back and forth throughout the entire play.

Set in different timelines, over the last fifty years, ‘Lines’ explores the livelihoods of different individuals across Uganda, Palestine and the UK. Although it appears to be set in a postcolonial era, the storyline doesn’t shy away from emphasising the influence of British colonialism on the current incarceration system we see in our present societies.

As the cast flourishes on stage and instantly captures our attention with their liveliness and energy, they also unveil crucial moments in history, such as the Uganda Scheme, Balfour Declaration, Idi Amin’s dictatorship and Nakba, to ground us onto our seats and connect us with realities that might be quite foreign to us, there’s an urge to rewind those moments in history, so that we can acquire the knowledge we’re so bluntly denied in Western and mainstream education systems.

Avoiding the traditional setting of plays, both John and Fidaa delve naturally into reality and acting, bringing to life the meaning of “bonding beyond borders”. From the difficulty in addressing the differences within interracial relationships to grasping that BIPOC “struggle competitions” can be very real, Lines’ is an emotional play that shifts memorably through laughter and tough conversations. Additionally, through their fluid and genuine interactions, the cast has the strength to transcend their chemistry beyond the stage, warming our hearts and making us question what’s indeed real.

Regarding the stage and settings, the dark panels proportionate its viewers an immersive experience and its ample stage gives us the impression that we’re all together on the same self-discovery journey, grappling with the physical existence of injustice, coloniality and all the atrocious -isms that come with.

Throughout the scenes, movements and facial expressions are uniquely combined and aligned, calling then for a sense of humanity and empathy, when we realise that migration stories and the dire realities of war or political prisoners are highly interconnected. Consequently, we’re also forced to understand that sometimes we’re required to make peace with challenging realities that are beyond our control and at the same time, stuck in a loop of pain and sorrow, as Fidaa’s character so strongly reiterated.

The cast can give us two worlds apart but so close, as we digest their agonizing truths. There's a distance in reality but the pain, although silent, is the same. The paralysing reality that grief is difficult to cope with. Not only the grief that comes alongside death but also the grief of a potential reality they never had access to. Whether it is a Uganda that was never colonised or a Palestine that never saw its land being stripped under its feet, ‘Lines’ is a play founded by pillars of decolonisation that provides the audience with many introspective moments and explorations of much more than what is in plain sight, much more than ‘doubt, choice, disappearance, death, reincarnation, and resurrection’, because ‘Uganda could’ve been Palestine’.

Lines is playing at the Playhouse, Sheffield until March 9th. Tickets available here.