Between the River and the Sea

New reviews are being saved, but they are not currently displaying on this page. We are upgrading our system, so while your feedback is secure, it won't appear publicly until our updates are complete.

This show has not been reviewed yet

Positive

Mixed

Negative

Members say

Be the first to review

About the Show

A Berlin father’s custody battle explores identity, faith, and belonging.

Between the River and the Sea follows Yousef, a man raised as a Christian-Arab-Palestinian-Israeli in Haifa, now living in Berlin and raising two Jewish-Arab-Austrian children. As he faces a painful custody battle, questions of identity, culture, and belonging surface, forcing him to confront how borders—both personal and political—shape family and selfhood. The play navigates the emotional terrain between heritage and home, love and separation.

The production is written by Yousef Sweid and Isabella Sedlak, with direction by Sedlak.

Presented by the Royal Court Theatre in its Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Between the River and the Sea continues the theatre’s mission to stage bold and globally resonant voices.

Critic Reviews (11)

"The show celebrates a tolerance and sweetness that seem to belong to an alien land."
Read more

The play is remarkable in its achievement — it marries provocation with emotional intelligence, presenting its arguments in a fresh light and therefore instigating a new line of thought in its public.
Read more

"This is a work chiefly full of amusement, affection and exasperation about the way Arabs and Jews interact inside and outside of their contentiously shared land, rather than a polemic."
Read more

"The play is an attempt to explore the area between mutual suspicion and hate, where understanding, maybe even empathy and fellowship, might blossom."
Read more

"Between the River and the Sea is a moderate show and a modest one, but it's a pleasure to spend time in Sweid's garrulous company."
Read more

Sweid is an extraordinarily engaging presence. He flirts with the audience, turning emotions this way and that, never losing the thread of the complexity of the ideas he wants to convey.
Read more

Contemplating some highly contentious topics from an overwhelmingly gentle, humanist perspective, this playful autobiographical monologue from Arab-Israeli actor Yousef Sweid is full of humour and heart.
Read more

"It's very easy to warm to Sweid the actor. He is charming, he flirts with the audience, he smiles richly, he guffaws and he imitates the other people in his life with precision and empathy."
Read more