What begins as a spat about Tony expecting Yasser to apologise escalates, through various mistakes and bad turns into a major trial fomenting a national explosion point ready for a detonator. If it were only about the escalation this might be a satire fuelled by the touchy and dangerous politics of the middle east. But this is a tale of reconciliation and its often ill fitting components.
As the initial riotous hearing deflates both parties and they ready themselves for ever tougher combat we do get to know them and also that, as each is meticulous in stating the disadvantages of his adversary, both are acutely aware that the avowed basis of all of this is a verbal exchange on a street. The problem is that it does not stay there and broken ribs and a premature birth result. And there is the problem of the origins of the pain which precede the insult by generations and greater conflicts. The insult really is just a spark.
The cast have a field day with their roles, particularly the two combatants at the centre (a wide eyed and intense Adel Karam as Tony and a self possessed but pained Yasser played by Kamel El Basha) and the legal adversaries who render the central spat into the international incident it threatens to become Camille Salameh and Diamande Bou Abboud as the lawyers.
If there is a problem it is overstatement. The writing and performances carry us along without the potential awkward moments that might mar such a tale by giving in to easy emotionalism but there is just too much reinforcement of the rising stakes that the centre can get lost. What only just saves it is the infrequent off stage encounters between Yasser and Tony that add a refreshing complexity to their competition. More of this might have allowed it its own gravity. It works as it is but a taste more of the personal might have strengthened the momentum of the bigger picture.
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