‘There’s something universal and unending in the stories of people in the most harrowing circumstances, that allows us to wrestle with and remember who we are.’
The observation belongs to playwright Mariem Omari. Her production, Revolution Days, is running a national tour across Scotland. Produced by Glasgow-based Bijli Productions, the 70-minute staging tracks the fracturing realities of international aid work during the Arab Revolutions. The narrative draws from Omari’s own history working in conflict zones, layered with Lewis Den Hertog’s video design of archive news footage and raw soundscapes captured by Niroshini Thamba and Nik Paget-Tomlinson across the Middle East.
Political updates for the 2026 Scottish tour
The script originally met audiences in 2021. Five years later, the geopolitical reality has broken down further, altering how early public optimism is framed.
‘When Revolution Days was first staged in 2021 during the 10 year anniversary of the ‘Arab Spring’, I found myself reflecting on the conflicts, militant regimes and corruption in the region,’ Omari said. ‘Revolution seemed inevitable, but the people were hopeful, and many saw the Western Nations as allies. Now they can no longer tell… none of us can. The playing field has changed, but the truth of people who are resilient in the face of war remains.’
The systemic nature of the ongoing conflict dictated a rewrite. The stage text required significant updates to address these international shifts.
‘There’s something universal and unending in the stories of people in the most harrowing circumstances, that allows us to wrestle with and remember who we are.’
‘More than the act of tearing up, I had to rethink how the play reflects on the fact that war and revolutions do not happen in a vacuum,’ Omari said. ‘The level of violence perpetrated in the Middle East has been planned and orchestrated for many years, and prominent western political figures have played a part.’
These changes influenced the staging. Omari worked alongside director Shilpa T-Hyland to adjust the framework.
‘So for both Shilpa T-Hyland, the Director, and I, we wanted to ensure that those politicians, who are engineers of history, are better reflected in the play,’ she said. ‘This is both in terms of the words on the page and the video design that supports it.’
Finding dark humour inside Middle East conflict zones
The monologue follows Samira, a Scottish-Arab aid worker facing immediate disillusionment on the ground. Despite the grim backdrop, the production integrates distinct lines of comedy. Omari gathered these observations while recording testimonies in highly volatile spaces.
‘What I have found both in my time as a humanitarian and in life in general is that people in the most harrowing circumstances know how to laugh at the madness of it all,’ Omari said.
In Revolution Days, laughter operates as a defence mechanism rather than relief. The writing seeks to preserve this contrast.
‘Because part of my job was to collect testimony from people in camps, conflict zones, or places like Nablus where they were being subjected to unspeakable violence, I was not expecting the laughter and joy that sprung from people during the interviews,’ she said. ‘So for me to write a play that threads those laughs in, I was simply recreating those moments for an audience by leaning into the emotional truth of those stories.’
Turning personal aid worker memories into theatre
Surrendering personal experiences to a production company is a delicate task. For Omari, transforming her own past into a public script meant defining a clear boundary between autobiography and fiction.
‘I’ve had a lot of time to process the choice to write Revolution Days, so it no longer feels strange…!’ she said. ‘When I started writing, I didn’t know what form it should take, but at some point I made the deliberate decision to turn it into a play.’
The stage configuration created an explicit link with the public, one which relies on direct transparency.
‘I had started to think about the importance of an audience as Samira’s confidant (she hides from herself, but is uncensored with them), and it became clear that this was meant to be a piece of theatre,’ Omari said.
Ultimately, T-Hyland would provide the critical detachment required to separate author from character, an angle running parallel to her doctoral research at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland into how contemporary stage writing interrogates historical records.
‘Working closely with director and dramaturg, Shilpa T-Hyland, on Revolution Days in 2021 and now, helped me immensely in terms of seeing Samira for who she is, rather than who I was,’ she said. ‘I was able to reflect on the true events that I experienced while fictionalising some moments to better serve the work. Shilpa is an inquisitive, kind and sensitive director, and is also Co-Artistic Director of Bijli Productions, so there was no better director to hand Revolution Days over to.’
Olivia Hemmati and contemporary global protest
Actress Olivia Hemmati takes over the role of Samira for this current run. Raised in Edinburgh, the Scottish-Iranian performer recently took the lead role of Ella in the Royal Lyceum’s Cinderella: A Fairytale, but here she encounters a script built on deep internal divisions.
‘From the very first moment I met Olivia, I was struck by her passion and deep connection to the play and Samira,’ Omari said. ‘Olivia is Scottish-Iranian, so her mixed heritage means she completely gets Samira.’
The shared cultural understanding accelerated the rehearsal room process; background details required zero explanation.
‘We don’t need to unpack any of the craziness that goes on in your head when you have one foot in one culture, and one foot in another,’ Omari said. ‘You are constantly aware of being of those ancestries, yet inescapably a product of the place you were socialised in.’
For Mariem, Hemmati infuses the performance with a specific contemporary perspective. Current political movements across the UK and abroad, it seems, inform her execution.
‘Olivia has a deep sensitivity and emotional connection to the region that is unique to her generation,’ Omari said. ‘I find myself in awe of her insights and how she embodies them as a performer. Young people are looking at the world now and seeing what is happening in Palestine and Iran; how public protest in the UK is being shut down; and how our leaders seem ineffectual, and Olivia is bringing that energy and fire to her performance.’
Alongside the fire, her characterisation balances global gravity with a localised edge.
‘Plus her Mum is from Greenock, and she has inherited that wicked west coast sense of humour!’ Omari said.
Western privilege and the British passport safety net
The play directly interrogates the massive imbalance between international workers and local populations: Samira holds an exit route that remains entirely unavailable to the people around her.
‘Samira is Scottish-Arab,’ Omari said. ‘She is born of two strong cultures and is very aware that her father’s family were refugees fleeing the Lebanon Civil War.’
This heritage sharpens the disparity of her legal status. Her passport protects her, but it shifts her perspective.
‘She is equally aware that because of her UK passport, she can return to her Scottish homeland,’ Omari said. ‘The point at which Samira acknowledges that she can leave, she is profoundly changed because of what she has experienced.’
This tracking of privilege moves past guilt. It turns toward direct political action upon returning home.
‘She knows her government is complicit in what has happened in the Middle East,’ Omari said. ‘And she knows when she returns that she can do something about that with the full knowledge of what actually happened on the ground, not what the media or politicians have curated for the UK public.’
Documenting real stories of New Scots
The live performance uses a dual approach. Each tour date pairs the staging with an 18-minute documentary film titled Revolution Days: A True Reflection. The film records first-hand statements from people from Syria, Sudan, Yemen, and Libya who settled in Scotland.
‘Olivia has a deep sensitivity and emotional connection to the region that is unique to her generation,’ Omari said. ‘I find myself in awe of her insights and how she embodies them as a performer.
‘The choice in 2021 to create the short film Revolution Days: A True Reflection to accompany the production was specifically to do with the importance of hearing from the people who lived through the Arab revolutions,’ Omari said.
The documentary element anchors the theatrical text in reality. It seeks to force audiences to view the figures behind standard media packaging.
‘I wanted audiences to hear first-hand from them about the reasons they took part in protests and actions to overthrow their leaders,’ she said. ‘I wanted audiences to hear about their hope in the face of conflict, violence and displacement.’
The inclusion of these recorded accounts marks the final structural element of the touring project. By placing the testimonies of displaced citizens alongside the stage monologue, the company aims to link the regional history directly to contemporary Scottish demographics, framing the short film as an explicit counterpoint to the theatrical narrative.
‘I wanted audiences to understand that they came to Scotland to find peace and a safe place to raise their children, while remaining hopeful that they may one day return… This film is of that moment, but as you will see, it is just as relevant today.’
Featured Image: Mariem Omari
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