Knot of understanding - The Jewish Chronicle

“Growing up in a modern Orthodox, United Synagogue household, conflicts surrounding assimilation have always been very close to me. Can two people from completely different backgrounds truly understand each other?” asks Dan Daniel, up-and-coming writer, filmmaker and theatre director.

These questions inspired his latest work, The Knot, currently showing (until July 6) at The Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington. It’s a simple, two-man play about manliness, about marriage, about infidelity, love, loss and hope.

Theatre pub plays can sometimes be underdeveloped - you have to do a lot with only few resources and very limited funding - but this play, written and produced by Dan Daniel, was nothing but impressive.

After graduating from Kings’ College London in Philosophy, Daniel wrote ‘The Knot’, inspired by a series of conversations with Aiyaz Ahmed and Caolan Dundon in a pub in Finchley.

Daniel realised the surprising middle ground of all the three people: between a Glaswegian Muslim (who, by the way, is a fully qualified Krav Maga instructor too), an Irish Catholic, and a Finchley Jew, a middle ground that is - in “The Knot” - explored theatrically through a sparsely designed, dialogue heavy production.

The set is small, though in no way claustrophobic. The actors pace around the stage as the seats fill, promoting the realistic atmosphere Daniel strived for. The play doesn’t really have a starting time: as soon as you walk into the room you become part of the experience.

The stories the two characters tell are distinct. Ahmed plays the Muslim nebbuch Imran, a man undergoing a midlife crisis: he shuns his family to marry a Sikh, he drudges in the daily grind working in a call centre, he struggles to bond with his son child, as all his relationships are strained after he learns of his wife’s infidelity.

Dundon’s character Aiden has more of a bravado, but is just as insecure with his situation: his relationship with his fiance, living in Argentina, is breaking down over the long distance.

There is a unity in the characters’ voices that makes it seem as if the two characters could seamlessly blend in and out of each other, even play each other.

When their separate plots collide, with each of the actors effortlessly adopting new roles to accommodate the multi-levelled story, the audience is reminded of the singularity of the many characters and two actors’ story: relationships are difficult.

This difficulty is simply displayed, through long, funny monologues that get to the heart of the characters’ troubles, while also deflating them through trivial audience interactions. The production collapses these two worlds: in one, the actors banter with the audience, the next, the audience don’t exist, and the characters stare deep into the stage lights delivering grand soliloquies.

A cheeky, half-naked Aiden being caught “in the act” is juxtaposed by Imran’s plea to be a better husband. Aiden’s authentic explorations of self-image are deflated with jibes like, “I look like Thor with an eating disorder”.

Austere discussions about the changing nature of relationships are followed by uber-modern questions like: “What does an aubergine Emoji represent?”. Inspired by productions such as ‘The Lehman Trilogy’, Daniel’s well-paced, undecorated dialogue transforms from the tragic to the comical continuously.

Daniel emphasises the gendered nature of the play: “the story is told from a male perspective, adding another layer concerning masculinity and the burden of social convention laid upon men. For example, not being allowed to show emotion when things get tough.”

“It is a story about men in relationships being pushed to the brink.” And it is true, I was at the edge of my seat throughout.

Tickets for ‘The Knot’ can be purchased here.