★★★★

“a gem of a short play, and Katia Haddad draws the audience in with great skill”

Mariupol, Katia Haddad’s poignant drama set against the backdrop of the Ukrainian War, is currently playing at the Pleasance Courtyard Beneath. It’s a beautifully constructed drama about a Russian, Galina, and “Steve” a charming Ukrainian sailor. With deft direction by Guy Retallack, and starring Oliver Gomm and Nathalie Barclay, this is a play you won’t want to miss.

Thirty years pass from that first meeting of these two star crossed lovers in Mariupol. Steve, who got his name playing Stevie Wonder songs for his merchant navy friends, meets a beautiful Moscovite who he playfully nicknames Moskalka at his best friend’s wedding. Steve and Galina are immediately drawn to one another, and their connection is deepened by a night spent by the beautiful Azov Sea. Galina nearly drowns taking a sea shell during a night swim but Steve is there to rescue her, and bring her back to land. Despite the connection, however, Steve isn’t ready to leave the merchant navy, and they part. Galina returns to Moscow, where she puts her shell on a necklace and wears it during the years of teaching, marriage to a Russian, and motherhood to a son, Sasha. When Steve and Galina next meet, it is under less happy circumstances. The shadows of an impending war between Russia and Ukraine have already begun. What started as a light hearted dance at a wedding morphs into something more intense, and tragic. The stage is set for their third meeting in a bunker in Azovstal in 2022, as Russian bombs rain down on the ruined city. Galina is there frantically searching for her POW son, and begs Steve to help her.

Mariupol is a gem of a short play, and Katia Haddad draws the audience in with great skill. She has her own memories of Mariupol and its people to help her, and this shows in the fully rounded characters. They are sympathetically portrayed by Oliver Gomm and Nathalie Barclay. Gomm in particular charms with his initial playfulness, and then makes a convincing shift to the older Ukrainian warrior, haunted by everything he has lost. The whole production is designed to focus the attention on the performers, with a compelling sound track that mixes both the sounds of war with the sounds of the sea. The passing of time is skillfully sketched in by swift costume changes on stage—a jacket added, the tie of a dress untied and tied. These light touches allow the audience to focus fully on Haddad’s words, and the unfolding tragedy.

The show covers a lot of ground in an hour, but it’s time well spent. It is a vivid testament to the consequences of war—not just in ruined cities, and destruction of a way of life, but in the price that people pay with their own lives and the lives of those they love. Memories of a happier past are like the seashell Galina wears around her neck—infinitely precious, but fragile. As the world becomes more unstable, Mariupol is a powerful reminder of all we could lose if we ignore the tragedies unfolding around us.

DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Ipema is a wonderful storyteller. She leads us through her story with both humour and a certain poetry”

It’s a dangerous thing, walking out your front door. Especially for Sam — because there’s a ticking time bomb nestled in her brain. A clipped, but still very dangerous little aneurysm which she not-so-affectionately refers to as “Annie”.

Dear Annie, I Hate You is Sam Ipema’s autobiographical journey through young adulthood and the event that stopped her cold at just 20 years old. She weaves a lovely, warm tale about growing up with her adopted brother Micah, who lives with Down’s Syndrome. They pretend to be superheroes, they revel in imagination together, and he thinks of her as his own personal Batman — until Sam realises that other kids her age don’t think that’s cool anymore. She tells Micah to get his own friends, as she gets her own too. The classic ups and downs of adolescence ensue. There are boys, there’s gossip, and through it all, Sam is just trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. She falls in love with soccer, proudly becoming the only woman on a Division Four men’s team… then she sustains a head injury in a match, and all hell breaks loose. It’s lucky, she’s told, that she had the scans — that her aneurysm was found before it burst, potentially killing her. But how can you tell someone it’s lucky to find out that there’s a bomb in your head?

Ipema is a wonderful storyteller. She leads us through her story with both humour and a certain poetry. When she engages with the audience, you can tell they’re charmed by her. The personification of her aneurysm, “Annie”, played by Eleanor House is nothing short of sublime, especially as she introduces herself. She’s chaos incarnate, but she’s also desperately trying to get Sam to pay attention to her, almost as though she has more concern for Sam’s life than even Sam does. The performances are beautifully aided by simple, but effective set design by Hugo Dodsworth and the videography work from Douglas Coghlan and Dan Light is exceptional. The analog media on display here is a fun and interesting addition, as it beckons us (well, some of us, I’m sure) back to our own childhoods. But there’s one scene in particular that really makes it feel beyond genius — when Sam places one of the many televisions over Annie’s head and walks us through the procedure she underwent, having her aneurysm clipped. It’s definitely a bit graphic, but it’s also fascinating and viscerally real.

As we arrive at Sam’s recovery, it does feel a bit like something is missing. It’s all a touch too neat. Sam talks about the difficulties of her recovery, the excruciating pain, the loneliness of it all, and the existential dread that comes with knowing that “Annie” could still burst and potentially kill her at any moment. Yet for some reason, it doesn’t feel like it quite lands the emotional punch that it should. But maybe that’s the point of it all, really — even these massive, traumatic events are just blips in the overall scheme of things. No matter what, we’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Tag Archives: Hugo Dodsworth

MARIUPOL

★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

MARIUPOL

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★

“a gem of a short play, and Katia Haddad draws the audience in with great skill”

MARIUPOL

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviewed on 3rd August 2025 at Beneath at Pleasance Courtyard

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Tom Crooke

MARIUPOL

MARIUPOL

MARIUPOL

DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU

★★★★

Riverside Studios

DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Ipema is a wonderful storyteller. She leads us through her story with both humour and a certain poetry”