Youkabed Ghayour Hallaj and Jeighk Koyote in The Book of Ashes. Photo by John Davie
In Canadian playwright Emil Sher’s play The Book of Ashes, which is being produced by Halifax Theatre for Young People at Alderney Landing Theatre, we meet Amir, a young boy who lives in Basra, Iraq in 2003. At first he, like all citizens of his city, is anticipating the war, instigated by the United States, but they, of course, have no way of knowing exactly when the first strike will come. The older characters have been through this before, but Amir is too young, and so everything is novel to him and more theoretical. He tries to imagine what it might be like, but tends toward romanticization and over-simplification given his limited experience of life. In Basra in 2003 the coming attacks were understood to be inevitable, but this feeling of stress about the immediate future, of not knowing how or when your entire reality might be thrown into violent chaos, still resonates today in Halifax in ways not experienced before in many of our lifetimes.
Amir loves to read and frequents the community library, an ancient building housing ancient priceless books far older than Canadian Confederation. There he is good friends with the young librarian Alia, who is worried about the library being bombed and these irreplaceable books being lost forever. One would think that Alia would have the immediate support of the municipal or even the federal government of Iraq and a plan to protect the books and the library would be prioritized, and yet Alia faces stark resistance from the military General who patrols this region. Even though she and the General are both Iraqis and should, in theory, have the same interests of the country at heart, we see that things are more complex than that. Can Alia defy the General and find a way to save these books before the American and British bombs begin to fall on Basra?
The Book of Ashes is based on a true story, and Sher writes it very much with upper elementary school- aged children in mind- centring Amir and one magical ancient storybook in particular, that he finds both mesmerizing and scary. In this production the world of the book comes to vivid life through the use of intricate shadow puppets (designed by Laura Stinson, and puppeteered by Jeighk Koyote). The action of the play is fast-paced, and clearly directed by Annie Valentina, as the run time of the show is less than one hour long. Along with exploring the relationship between a society’s books and library and their history, culture, and language, it also explores the different relationships in this community, as Amir is the cherished child of a hardworking mother, Jinan, who is afraid of stepping out of line at all in fear for his safety, and the friend of Abu, a storekeeper who also races roller pigeons. The inter-generational friendships here speak to a community where children are mentored by the adults in their neighbourhoods, and where children are given the freedom to walk around by themselves, and where they are expected to be helpful to others. Although, as Jinan finds out, perhaps Amir is a little too helpful.
Sandrella Mohanna plays Jinan, a cautious mother who seems tired by the time she comes home, but who fosters a love for reading and imagination in her vivacious child. Claude L. Daniel plays Abu, who is wise through experience about the realties of war, but doesn’t want to tell Amir too much too soon. Daniel also plays Gabir, Alia’s frightened husband, and the General, a man unable to see beyond his book of war strategy. Ellis Pickersgill brings so much gentleness and patience to Alia, especially in her interactions with Youkabed Ghayour Hallaj’s Amir. Ghayour Hallaj creates a really delightful young protagonist who expresses both an innocent joy and the intense fear of a child navigating an unimaginable situation. There is also a beautiful somersaulting pigeon puppet that is enchanting as well.
I found myself thinking about our own Central Library in Halifax, and that while most of the books there exist in libraries and bookstores around the world, there are books and historical artifacts in the Family History Room, and in the archives on that floor in the back, that are out of print or exist in very few, if any, other places. Most of these are local histories. I know from my own frustrating experience that the Nova Scotia Archives has only updated its digitization process for the Halifax City Directories through to 1928, for example. As far as I know the City Directories at the Central Library haven’t been digitized at all. We take for granted that we live in a modern digital age, but the truth is that a lot of our history is tenuous and precious, exists on paper, and is at risk of someday being destroyed, just as the library in Basra was destroyed.
I hope this story will resonate with all the little Amirs in Halifax. We have already destroyed so many of our historic buildings ourselves. We need the youngest among us to care enough to want to protect all the stories we have left, wherever they may be found.
Halifax Theatre for Young People’s The Book of Ashes has two more public performances, on on Tuesday April 22nd at 12:30pm, which is *Cash only, Pay-What-You-Can at the door* and one on Wednesday April 23rd at 7:00pm at Alderney Landing Theatre (2 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth). Tickets are available here on a sliding PWYC scale from $10.00 plus fees to $30.00 plus fees. It is recommended for children between Grade 3 and Grade 8 especially.
Alderney Landing is accessible for wheelchair users; the theatre is on the second level, and there is an elevator. For more Accessibility questions please email HTYP at info@halifaxtheatreforyoungpeople.com.
