Coming to Edinburgh Fringe all the way from the city of Haifa, Palestinian comedian Hanna Shammas’ stand up show follows his thoughts, feelings, and fears during a hospital visit where he discovers he has a literal hole in his heart. His panic leads him down all possible routes, considering if this signifies something deeper, whether it’s his relationship with his mother, his daughters or sister, his country, or even himself, that has brought on a hole in his heart. It being his first show performed fully in English, Hanna Shammas Takes It To Heart feels raw and personal, with Shammas shining through as a charming jokester who is unafraid to crack a couple of dad jokes.
A huge theme in this show is undeniably the experience of living in Haifa, part of the 1948 territories in occupied Palestine, and what it means to him to own an Israeli passport and live alongside Israelis as a proud Palestinian man. He focuses on his day-to-day life, sharing stories about nurses in the hospital and his neighbours being Israeli, even sharing how he has been told his entire life he does not “look Arab enough.”
Despite sharing these anecdotes in a humorous light, Shammas uses them to signal the wider insecurity of what it means to be a true Arab man. Whilst recounting conversations with his sister about embracing all of his conflicting emotions about the current state of the world, Shammas shares what his happiest place is: the coast in Haifa, with the sunrays settling across the sea. He never describes his home with anything other than love and nostalgia.
His voice is not cordoned into a singular, digestible stereotype, but is layered and real. Listening to him, with his method of storytelling, made me feel like I was sitting with all my own Arab aunts and uncles, listening to their most interesting stories, hearing them be passed down to a new generation. Having a show like this and platforming a Palestinian comedian like Hanna Shammas at one of the biggest arts festivals in the world is more important now than it ever has been.
Hanna Shammas Takes It To Heart is running until 30 August at Buttercup at Underbelly, George Square. Buy tickets here.
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