In 2010, comedian-activist Mark Thomas decided to walk the 750 km long wall that separates the West Bank from Israel “to see what it was about”. Ostensibly in place to ensure Israel's security from suicide bombers, the 'separation barrier' also enabled a land-grab by sectioning off Palestinian land from its people.
Given the subject material, Thomas's show was frequently serious. Through the minutiae of what he experienced as a self-confessed naïve Englishman abroad (“a bit like Hugh Grant”), he was able to illuminate the effect the wall has had on both communities.
While many of the tales were bleak - children being forced to crawl through sewers to get to school, workers queuing for four hours at checkpoints that didn't open until 6am - Thomas rang big laughs from the material too. A Python-quoting Israeli guide, a British diplomat from the pages of Evelyn Waugh, and a hippy cameraman were on hand to puncture the tension of an arrest from the militarised zone, a stoning and a tear-gassing with a well-delivered quip.
Thomas’s storytelling was suspenseful and evocative, and the audience was alternately rapt then guffawing loudly. While his sympathies clearly lay with the Palestinians, Thomas was careful not to present a completely one-sided view of the situation. While some people he encountered were so bigoted they were virtually parodies, he admitted to greatly liking an Israeli responsible for granting Palestinian land to settlers.
He acknowledged that there were no easy answers. There were, however, an unexpected number of laughs.
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