REVIEW: Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Qu'ran

The new season at Southampton's Nuffield theatre is out of the starting blocks. Last week Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's whimsical play Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Qu'ran (translated from the French original by Patricia Benecke and Patrick Driver) made a welcome appearance after a successful run in Edinburgh and London.

Moses (James Daley) is a Jewish teenager struggling along with an unhappy father in 1960s Paris. When wrongly accused of stealing money by his father, he decides that he may as well live down to his reputation and starts pinching cash to fund his precocious trips to the local red light district. When he gets caught shoplifting by Sufi Muslim Monsieur Ibrahim (Sam Dastor), the wiley old grocer offers Moses the paternal affection and guidance he lacks. An unlikely friendship blossoms as the two embark on a series of minor adventures and discussions that shine a light upon both their lives, forging a strong bond despite the adolescent surliness of one protagonist and the old-fashioned reserve of the other.

Both actors deliver fine, engaging performances, full of warmth, humour and humanity. At one point, Moses muses that 'Jews, Muslims and Christians had many great men in common before we started hitting each other over the head.' Certainly, there are lessons within but the script never gets bogged down with preaching. To criticise the narrative for its oversimplification of the issues of age, race and religion is to miss the point: central to this play is what the characters share, not what divides them.

It would have been good to discover more about Monsieur Ibrahim, to have more flesh on the bones, as it were. Having said this, the performance comes in at a lean 70 minutes and proceeds at a brisk pace so this is a mere niggle rather than an accusation that the play lacks substance.

Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Qu'ran was made into an acclaimed film starring Omar Sharif in 2003. The staging at The Nuffield was confined to a single set with inspired use of lighting, but the dynamics of this slight, uplifting piece are really all about character and dialogue.

A tender, funny and timely production.