Riham Isaac seduces the stage with Another Lover's Discourse

This autumn Riham Isaac brings her first solo theatre show, created and performed solely by her, to the Belfast International Arts Festival. The multimedia performance, titled Another Lover’s Discourse, explores the complexity of love and relationships.

Four years ago, Isaac embarked on a journey to explore what it meant to love; what ideas we have about it and what was holding her back from it. This inventive new multimedia performance invites the audience to think differently about love.

“It’s been a long journey for me,” Riham explains. “I started working on the show in 2018, researching and developing work around the theme of love. I was trying to understand how we fall in love and what our ideas around it are, especially as an Arab woman.

"Encouraging a more open conversation about how we understand romantic relationships, her [Riham's] unique show mashes up interviews video, music, performance and original film to explore the complexity of love and relationships"

"The idea was to do a personal investigation into the theme of love. I wanted to express it in its complexity because love can be very complex, it can be very simple. Sharing your personal experience with the audience – it’s a healing process.”

What perhaps sets Riham’s performance apart is the intimate aspect of it, with candid interviews and discussions taking place around the subject of love: “I think one of the key moments in my performance is my interview with my mother, more of an intimate conversation that I wished I had when I was a kid. I do believe that revolution doesn’t happen just by going out in the street; I think revolution starts from within.” 

In March 2020 Riham was invited to showcase snippets of the performance at the AWAN festival. “I had this amazing opportunity to collaborate with other artists and get a sense of how I wanted the show to be,” she explains.

“We put the show together in three weeks and caught the eye of Belfast Arts Festival, who commissioned us to do the full show.”

However, luck wasn’t on Riham's side and, shortly after, Covid forced the world into lockdown, delaying her debut. 

When describing what viewers of Another Lover’s Discourse can expect from her performance, Riham’s eyes light up. “Love is very complex and there are so many emotions – you expect to have a journey with yourself when observing me.”

Encouraging a more open conversation about how we understand romantic relationships, her unique show mashes up interviews, videos, music, performance and original film to explore the complexity of love and relationships.

“It’s multidisciplinary; there’s music and a video installation. I filmed myself in the style of old classical Egyptian films. There are humour aspects to it, with me acting and singing on stage and some intimate moments where I share interviews I’ve done with family, friends and even my mother.”

Riham's practice is interdisciplinary in its art form, exploring both theatrical and cinematic genres. With video installations and integrated live performances – including striking video design by Welsh artist Simon Clode – audiences will be intrigued, curious, and excited by the way Riham communicates and tells stories.

With live music composed by Palestinian musician and composer Faris Ishaq, Riham also sings songs inspired by classical black and white Egyptian films, in which men's and women’s roles were always fixed and linear. 

By representing a nonstereotypical and nuanced take on love, desire and romance as an Arab woman, she aims to challenge heteronormative gender roles and romantic relationships with humour, truth and empathy. 

Following on from Belfast, Another Lover’s Discourse will be performed at PalArt Festival at London’s Rich Mix. Partnering with Amnesty International UK, this one-of-a-kind theatre and arts festival will present art from across Palestine from October 28-31, that covers media such as theatre, spoken word, poetry, music and visual art. 

The festival hopes to welcome all Palestinian artists, anyone who is interested in meeting like-minded artists, and those looking for an alternative experience of arts and culture. 

Riham will also be hosting workshops and community work with young people alongside the performances, including events at Barbican Plymouth, Theatre Royal Bath and Belfast International Arts Festival, as well as a schools’ project in Hounslow linked with the Bethlehem Cultural Festival. 

Sami Rahman is a freelance lifestyle writer based in London. 

Follow her on Twitter: @bysamirahman