The Beekeeper of Aleppo at Leeds Playhouse
Demi Sheridan, Editorial AssistantBook now
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.
Opening this April at Leeds Playhouse, Christy Lefteri’s international best-seller novel The Beekeeper of Aleppo is brought to the stage in a moving adaptation that places human connection and understanding at the heart of an unimaginable journey.
Adapted by Nesrin Alrefaai and Matthew Spangler, this production shifts the focus to Syria, where beekeeper Nuri and his artist wife Afra, live a simple life around craft, quiet and routine in the city of Aleppo. However, this peaceful life is shattered by war, forcing the couple to flee and embark on a dangerous journey across borders in search of safety.
The experiences that follow are not in the simple category. They face hardship and trauma filled with grief and resilience. The fragile threads that hold people together are pulled to breakable lengths. Nuri and Afra must navigate this landscape marked by loss, as well as the emotional distance that has inevitably grown between them. Each carrying trauma in their own way, the two evoke tenderness contrasted by the stark realities of survival.
The symbolism of bees is present throughout the production, quiet at times but the metaphor remains at the core of each lesson learnt along the way. They symbolize a society in complete harmony with itself. People are not like bees, but we have the potential to be. To work together for a common goal, to have a purpose and strive towards it. A lot of people are afraid of bees, Nuri included. He was scared of bees, before he understood what they could represent, now he considers them a reminder of societal capacity.
