美国国家公共电台 NPR In Kitchens Across New York, 'Oh My Sweet Land' Serves Up Stories Of Syria

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Many plays have been called kitchen sink dramas because of their attempts at realism. A new play takes that to the extreme. "Oh My Sweet Land" uses not only the sink but the stove, refrigerator, food processor, a chopping board and a very big knife in kitchens all across New York. In these intimate settings, audiences watch an actress prepare a typical Syrian dish and tell stories about the civil war. Here's Jeff Lunden.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE¹: The kitchen I went to in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, was clean and organized - baskets of lemons, rows of cooking oil. As music played on the radio, a woman with long, curly hair puttered around the kitchen, putting a package of meat in the fridge, sauteing pine nuts. Then she began to speak.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OH MY SWEET LAND")

NADINE MALOUF: (As character) Since I came back, I make kibbeh again and again as if I want to close a hole in my soul.

AMIR NIZAR ZUABI: I had to guarantee that the audience tears up, so there's a lot of onion cutting.

LUNDEN: That's Amir Nizar Zuabi, the playwright² and director of "Oh My Sweet Land." A Palestinian, he got the idea for the play several years ago when he traveled to Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. He adapted several of the stories he heard. And since food and hospitality are a cornerstone of Arab culture, he included cooking.

ZUABI: I didn't want to do a horror show. It's important to remember that this is an attack on a culture. Not just the political situation, it's an attack on the way of life. And the loss in Syria is also this. It's the loss of normality, of just the ability to break bread together and meet.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OH MY SWEET LAND")

MALOUF: (As character) I (laughter) remember my father standing³ at the window, shouting (foreign language spoken) to strangers when they walked by (laughter). Come in. Eat - people looking at the strange man holding a plate of food at the window, inviting⁴ passers-by in for coffee or food. (Foreign language spoken).

I had never done anything so difficult before (laughter).

LUNDEN: Actress Nadine Malouf not only tells the harrowing story of a woman who follows her Syrian lover to the Middle East but cooks kibbeh while she tells it.

MALOUF: I have nicked myself a few times. I've burnt myself with oil. I've - you know, wounds - war wounds.

LUNDEN: The Australian actress of Middle Eastern and European descent says dealing⁵ with the emotions and cooking...

MALOUF: It was a little bit like, you know, rubbing your belly⁶ and tapping your head at the same time.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OH MY SWEET LAND")

MALOUF: (As character) All around us, Syrians argue loudly about politics.

LUNDEN: As the kitchen gets messier, so does the story.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OH MY SWEET LAND")

MALOUF: (As character) We arrive in Tafas. Some of the buildings have been so heavily shelled, they seem to defy gravity. They look like lace, like concrete lingerie.

LUNDEN: Watching the play in this setting becomes almost painfully intimate for both the audience and the actor, says Nadine Malouf.

MALOUF: You tell immediately, you know, like, who doesn't want you to look at them. And I understand that because there's, you know, a safety in the audience being in the dark and the actors on the stage. And that's very safe for both parties. Here, no one is safe (laughter).

LUNDEN: After the show, audience members stood outside to chat and eat a piece of baklava. Allison Martin, a nurse practitioner⁷, called the experience incredibly visceral.

ALLISON MARTIN: Being in the small space and the smell of the onions midway through really brings the far away to right here in front of us.

LUNDEN: And that's the point of "Oh My Sweet Land." The onions, spices and stories linger long after the final bow. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF LOWERCASE NOISES' "THE HUNGRY YEARS")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

7 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。