Withdrawal

Mohammad Al Attar, Clem Naylor

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781780019550
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Ahmad and Nour rent a flat so that they can spend time together away from their families, but is having a space to themselves going to solve all their problems?

Withdrawal by Syrian writer Mohammad Al Attar was first performed, in this English translation by Clem Naylor, in a rehearsed reading at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2008.

It was developed as part of an ambitious project by the Royal Court Theatre's International Department and the British Council, working with twenty-one writers from across the Near East and North Africa.

WITHDRAWAL

MOHAMMAD AL ATTAR

translated by

CLEM NAYLOR

Mohammad Al Attar

Mohammad Al Attar studied English Literature at the University of Damascus and has a diploma in Theatre Studies from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. In 2008 he was coordinator of the Arab and International Performing Arts programme for the Damascus Arab Capital of Culture Festival. He is currently taking an MA in Applied Drama at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Theatre Studio Group in Damascus, working as dramaturg on the Boal-inspired project Interactive Theatre in Syrian Rural Areas (2006–07); Samah (May 2008) at El Teatro, Damascus, a play performed by a group of young offenders from the Damascus Juvenile Institute; and Al-Merwad Wa Al-Mekhala (May 2009) at the Syrian Opera House. He was also dramaturg for a production of An Enemy of the People by Ibsen at the Syrian Opera House.

Clem Naylor

Clem Naylor graduated with a BA in Arabic and French from St John’s College, Oxford, in 2009. As part of his degree he spent 2006–07 studying Arabic at the University of Damascus. Since returning to the UK, he has been involved in various literary and non-literary translation projects. These projects have included work for the Royal Court Theatre, London, for whom he has translated and reported on scripts, and for the Georg Eckert Institute in Germany, for whom he translated a volume of essays about education. He is currently studying for a Modern Middle Eastern Studies MSt at Oxford and has recently returned from a British Council literary translation workshop in Cairo.

Withdrawal was first performed as a rehearsed reading as part of the I Come From There: New Plays from the Arab World season in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London, on 12 November 2008, with the following cast:

AHMAD	Sam Crane
NOUR	Jemima Rooper
Director	Amy Hodge

The play was also read at Espace El Teatro in Tunis, Tunisia, in February 2009.

Characters

AHMAD, a twenty-six-year-old man
NOUR, a twenty-six-year-old woman

Setting

A medium-sized room with a bed taking up one side of it. Nearby, there is a small table. Roughly in the middle of the room, there is a table with two traditional wooden chairs around it. Near the table, against the back wall there is a big sofa and directly above this sofa there is a relatively big window. A large old cupboard, which is handmade and decorated with mother-of-pearl, occupies a large part of the second side of the room, facing the bed. Opposite the door to the room, there is a door leading to a small bathroom, next to which there is a very small kitchen in the corner. We also see some unopened cardboard boxes in the room, with small household objects, books, CDs and various other things inside.

Scene One

Night-time. AHMAD and NOUR are lying on the only mattress in the room.

AHMAD. Maybe it’s time now.

NOUR. That was so good. It was the best I’ve ever had.

AHMAD. It was the first I’ve ever had… What time is it?

NOUR. Thank you for waiting until now for me. I wanted to, too.

AHMAD. I’ve got to get up, he could be here any minute now.

NOUR. I really wanted to – I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone before.

AHMAD. Me too… though I’ve never loved anyone before. I’m really going to miss you.

NOUR grabs hold of him by his hair and pulls him forcefully towards her chest.

NOUR. Don’t joke. You can’t really want to go away, not after we struggled so long to be able to rent this room. You can’t go. You’re going to stay with me and I’m going to sleep with you every day until you forget about all our problems.

AHMAD (pulling himself out of her grasp). Where’s my watch? He’s got to get here now so I can go home and get my things. My family will be waiting to say goodbye, my mum will be crying like usual. I’ll miss her too. You and her, just you two.

NOUR (hugging him around his shoulders from behind). You’re not really going to go, are you? You always said you weren’t going to go. You’re not being serious.

AHMAD. You’ve never taken what I say seriously. Maybe it’s better like that – you know, you, my dad, my whole family, no one takes me seriously. I’ll miss you.

NOUR. Liar… You’re not going to go, you want to stay with me. Come on, let’s do it again.

AHMAD. It’s funny how I’ve waited my whole life for this moment… I can’t quite believe this is happening.

NOUR. I wanted to wait for you too. You can’t go… Not now I’ve found you.

AHMAD. Does your neck still hurt? You should stop sitting in front of a computer so much, eight hours a day really is too long. Maybe you should quit your job. Why don’t you put on some music?

AHMAD stands up and starts looking for his watch. Then he finds his mobile and looks at the time on it.

NOUR (lying on her front on the bed). I feel like I want to cry. Please don’t have a go at me.

AHMAD. No, I want to have a go at you. Don’t cry, I’ve told you a hundred times not to cry. He should be here any minute now.

He approaches her again and sits down on the bed.

Everything’ll be fine. It won’t get any worse, anyway.

A knock on the door.

I told you he was about to get here. I’ve got to get out quickly, I don’t want to keep him waiting. He’s going to take me home and then on to the airport.

He approaches her and hugs her tightly.

NOUR. No, stay a bit longer. Let me put on the music.

She rushes towards the CD player, but she freezes when there is another knock on the door.

Scene Two

NOUR. It’s the best room we could get for our money.

AHMAD. You mean, your money.

NOUR. What’s the difference?

AHMAD. Just that you’ve got a job and I don’t.

NOUR. It’s stupid, you could have a job if you wanted one. You leave all your jobs because they’re taking advantage of you or they don’t understand you or they don’t appreciate you or they –

AHMAD. You sound like someone I know.

NOUR. It was you...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction: Young Arab Playwrights and the Half-open Door
• Withdrawal
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information