one4review | On 13, Aug 2023

Salty Irina is the world premiere of Eve Leigh’s new play. Two students, Anna and Eireni, have both come to study at a town well known for its fascist tendencies. Both are potentially in danger – Anna is a lesbian, and Eireni has a Turkish mother. When Anna questions why recent murders of Lebanese and Senegalese locals are not being investigated properly, and Eireni finds a pool of blood on her doorstep, they decide to join forces to investigate. The local Fascist Festival seems a good place to start, and they head off together, disguised to hide their true identity. Their well-meaning naivety puts them in great danger and the action culminates in a show down with a local far right devotee.

As well as fighting fascism, this is a love story and the two actors – Hannah van der Westhuysen and Yasemin Ozdemir – have a fantastic chemistry. Their relationship, from its initial tentative steps, to its consummation, is never less than believable. The strength of the love story occasionally threatens to smother the importance of the political message, but the emotional ending satisfactorily gets the message across, and the audience loved the
show.

****

Reviewed by Rona

Summerhall – Roundabout Theatre

Until 27th August (Not 15th or 22nd)

2.30pm