A Grain of Sand Review: Gaza's Children's Stories Haunt Arcola Theatre
Sarah Agha delivers a beguiling yet deeply disturbing solo performance in A Grain of Sand at London's Arcola theatre, presenting a child's eye view of the horror in Gaza. Based on verbatim accounts from Gazan children, this production builds its drama through multiple young voices, creating a powerful and unsettling theatrical experience.
Verbatim Testimonies from Young Voices
The show draws from a booklet compiled by Leila Boukarim and Asaf Luzon called A Million Kites: Testimonies and Poems from the Children of Gaza, produced by Good Chance and written by Elias Matar. It recounts memories of Israel's bombing campaigns in 2023 and 2024, with eleven-year-old Renad dreaming of becoming a famous storyteller while navigating a landscape of war, hunger, displacement, and terror.
Renad's stories brim with tales of her grandmother who inspired her love of narratives, her family, and countless other children sharing similar traumatic experiences. Now wandering through razed landscapes alone, searching for her family, Renad represents the desolation and fear permeating Gaza's youth.
Devastating Realities and Magical Realism
The production presents harrowing accounts without filter:
- Maryam remembers seeing her parents scared for the first time as bombs fell
- An eight-year-old expresses confusion at seeing doctors crying in hospitals
- Layan Eid describes hair-braiding and labneh sandwiches alongside gunshots that rain down like "heavy rain"
- Children witness raids on al-Shifa hospital and attacks on schools, refugee camps, and churches
- One child dreams of dead children growing back their limbs in heaven
These narratives are leavened by magical realist elements transporting audiences into Palestinian folklore, centered around Anqa, an ancient phoenix figure serving as both myth and metaphor for Palestinian rebirth.
Continuing Relevance and Power
Originally commissioned by the London Palestine film festival in 2024 as a live performance, A Grain of Sand has lost none of its potency. The tragedy compounds as the acute crisis continues for Palestinians in Gaza with no accountability for children's deaths. As Renad tells her stories, terrible realities accrete into horror upon horror.
The production runs at Arcola theatre until 31 January before touring, serving as a poignant reminder of war's human cost through children's unfiltered perspectives.
