Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

Th creative components of this piece are formidable, and in many respects new to theatre. Based on an obscure 4000-year-old Egyptian story, never (?) or at least rarely dramatised, adapted by Ben Okri, better known as a novelist, designed by Sir David Adjaye, an architect making his first foray into theatre. The staging, though, is in the safe hands of Young Vic AD Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Adjaye’s design for this in-the-round production is a pyramid that unfolds to become a star shaped floor. A bigger inverted pyramid hangs above it, touching it, onto which there are superb projections by Duncan McLean. Lighting by Jackie Shemesh, music by Tunde Jegede & sound by XANA complete the beautiful look and sound of the piece.

At the beginning, the actors play a game to determine who takes the part of protagonist Sinuhe, on a journey through Lybia, Egypt and Syria. Our Sinuhe was Joan Iyiola who, with Ashley Zhangazha, plays 99 other parts, all of which they have to learn, given the decision point at the outset. It took a short while to get into the story, but then it seemed to zip along.

It’s a great tale, well told, and I loved the design aesthetic, but I wasn’t fully satisfied at the end, perhaps because it was a bit insubstantial for a full evening, perhaps because at almost £1 a minute I felt short-changed, or maybe a bit of both. That said, it’s something new, something different, and you can’t really argue that the inputs aren’t expertly crafted.