"The Beekeeper Of Aleppo" by Christy Lefteri.

Adapted for the stage by Nesrin Alrefaai and Matthew Spangler.

Nottingham Playhouse.

This beautiful play was last at the Nottingham Playhouse in 2023 and now it's back with a few new additions to the cast, but the story and the history behind this play has not changed. It does though give someone like myself, who saw it the last time it was here, a chance to notice more of the story that we may have missed while we were concentrating on the main storyline of the refugee issues and how people are treated. This time around it felt fresh and simultaneous storylines leapt out from the stage, making this viewing even better than the first time.

The play’s narrator and protagonist is Nuri Ibrahim, a man from Syria. He and his wife Afra have fled from Syria due to the violence of the Syrian Civil War. After a long journey, they have managed to reach London. They are living in a lodging house with other refugees, as they wait to learn whether or not they will be granted asylum.

The main storyline focuses on Nuri and Afra’s journey, which is told in a series of flashbacks as he goes through the immigration process. They lived a peaceful life in the Syrian city of Aleppo. They had a seven-year-old son named Sami, and this time around I was more focused on what happened to Sami through Nuri and Afra's eyes. Nuri worked as a beekeeper, which he found very fulfilling. His partner and mentor in this business was his cousin Mustafa. After violence of the war began to spread and to affect Aleppo, Mustafa sent his wife and daughter out of the country. Later, when Mustafa’s son was killed, Mustafa decided to flee the country as well.

At the end of the play, Nuri and Afra reunited with Mustafa and his family. Nuri and Afra have not yet been granted asylum, but they remain hopeful. They also hope that they will be able to return to

a peaceful Syria one day.

It's a beautifully written, powerful play full of compassion, love, loss and hope and will not fail to touch you. This is a story that will be topical forever, unfortunately for the people involved in the migration and immigration process.

This really is an ensemble piece of theatre, so I am going to mention the whole cast on the same level of excellence.

Adam Sina (Nuri), Farah Saffari (Afra), Joseph Long (Mustafa/ The Moroccan Man), Aram Mardourian (Nadim/Fotakis/Ali) whose parents grew up in Aleppo, Alia Lahlou (The Immigration Officer/ Doctor Farouk/ Dahab), Dona Atallah (Mohammed/ Sami), Princess Khumalo (Angeliki/ Lucy Fisher) and Mohsen Gaffari and Helena Massoud as the ensemble. Aram and Joseph were in the 2023 production.

There's a different Director for this production with Anthony Almeida taking over; the original Director being Miranda Cromwell. I managed to spot a few little details in this production that I hadn't seen in the original. Whether this is because they are new to the production, or maybe I just hadn't noticed them in the 2013 production. It's an incredibly touching story and the whole stage direction is excellently done.

The Set Designer is Ruby Pugh. This is a multi-faceted set which is really well utilised, with windows, hatches, a chair and a bed all incorporated into a Syrian style landscape, and also includes a poppy garden towards the end of the play.

Ben Ormerod's lighting design defines the high and low points of their journey, which combined with the video design, which is projected onto the set itself, creates an atmospheric feel throughout. The Video Designer is Zsalt Balogh for Palma Studios. 

Sound Designer is Tingying Dong. The playhouse auditorium is a wonderful capsule for sound, whether it be for live bands or a theatre production, musical or otherwise, and the richness of the music flows from the speakers and engulfs you. That clarity and quality is also in the soundbites we get to hear along the way, especially in the flashback sections of the play.

The gorgeous original music has been composed by Elaha Soroor, transporting you to Syria, London and Yorkshire all with the same authentic style of music.

When you see and hear what Nuri and Afra went through to escape probable death; their battle to find a safe place to live, you can't help feel a variety of emotions, including human guilt at the way these people were treated in several stages of their journey. You also feel a sense of hate in at least one part of the play. Another theme of the play, which is revisited several times is Nuri's loss and his guilt which, in my mind, is reflected in his interactions with Mohammed, as he comes to realise the loss of his own son, Sami. There's quite a ghostly feel surrounding this area, which doesn't quite become apparent until later in the play.

This is a piece of theatre which will make you think long and hard about the world we live in, and the way some of us treat our fellow man. And a lesson we should all learn by way of this superb production. It also brings the political side of the story more up to date with certain names being thrown into the mix; another small way that the Director has managed to refresh the narrative, and also to point out that thirteen years on from the last time "Beekeeper" was on this stage that, maybe not an awful lot has changed and that this story is ongoing in 2026.

I also love the lesser narrative of just how important bees are to our environment, and while we still have bees, we still have a future and we still have hope.

"The Beekeeper Of Aleppo" is at the Nottingham playhouse until Saturday 28 February.