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Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Mehmet Ergen.
Cast: George Antoni, Brid Bennan, Rebecca Calder, Mehmet Ali Nuroglu, Peter Polycarpou, Beatriz Romilly, Bita Taghavi
Description: Moving tale set during a turbulent time in Turkey's poltical climate in the 1980s. In a mountain village, a father attempts to hold onto to everything he has created and holds dear, and will do anything to keep his family secure. Written by Leyla Nazli.
Trains: BR: Dalston Kingsland 
Phone: 0207503 1646
Website: www.arcolatheatre.com
Extra info: Food, Pub
Turkish delight: Peter Polycarpou (Haydar) in Leyla Nazli's impressive Silver Birch House
What a growing success story the Arcola has been in its six-and-a-half years. Nestled in the heart of Dalston's Turkish community, the theatre has admirably managed to look both close to home and far away in its choice of plays.
To launch its first ever season of Turkish drama performed in English, it has, fittingly, plumped for the debut piece from the theatre's co-founder Leyla Nazli. It proves a fine choice.
Nazli's writing is fluid and assured, one of the most confident first works I have seen in months.
She introduces us to a farming family scraping a living in the mountains of eastern Turkey. There are almost Chekhovian overtones to the sophisticated languor with which she brings on a network of relatives.
Instead of a cherry orchard there is a silver birch forest, which irascible paterfamilias Haydar (Peter Polycarpou) tends lovingly. Nevertheless, winds of change are rustling the leaves.
In each passing scene there is a mounting sense of political unrest, as Haydar's four teenage children begin an illicit involvement with the "comrades".
Programme notes mention clashes between Communists, including Kurdish idealists, and the military dictatorship, but Nazli fails to provide even a thumbnail sketch of the political background. Without such vital context, the characters' actions and decisions strike us less forcefully than they should.
There are fine performances from all four siblings in Mehmet Ergen's stylish production, as well as Polycarpou and Brid Brennan as the fractious parents trying to keep it all together, although they are increasingly uncertain as to what "it" is.
They are, however, upstaged by Neil Irish's beautiful set, in which a veranda gives way to an outside dining area and then, finally, the forest. How fitting that even the design matches the overall quality of the writing.
• Until 9 June. Information: 020 7503 1646, www.arcolatheatre.com.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
