The Scotsman 16 November 2021

There is a scene in Mariem Omari’s new play in which an aid worker finds herself in Tunisia and is overwhelmed by the vastness of the landscape. Faced by such cinematic grandeur, she reaches for the only comparison she can think of. “This is where they filmed Star Wars,” she gasps.The observation is doubly appropriate because the play’s star, Raghad Chaar, has form. She appeared as a Resistance officer in Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.Revolution Days, however, is concerned with a different sort of enormity, being based on Omari’s experience during the Arab Spring. “It’s the enormity of a moment that shapes the world,” says the playwright.

Omari’s work in the Middle East began in Palestine where she was employed by UNRWA, the United Nations relief and works agency. From there, she joined Médecins du Monde, a sister organisation to Médecins Sans Frontières, to help deal with the fallout of the second Gulf War in Iraq. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).