BOOKS
A Human in The Making
Yvonne Yamouni
The play revolves around a family living in Byblos in the 16th Century and examines the changes in the interpersonal relationships between its members after the family migrates to Britain.
The play also addresses universal themes such as the dynamics of human relationships, gender equality, the human’s right to self-expression irrespective of gender and the issue of migration and its attendant consequences on individuals whose origins are embedded in a culture vastly different from those of the West.
Briefly it is about Zachariah, an oil merchant, who on the surface, and as a result of a meeting in Antioch with Asquith, a British businessman who encourages him to expand his business to Britain, decides that do just that.
The wife and children are left behind. However, on his way to Britain, Zachariah is severely injured during a storm and is taken in by Asquith upon arrival in Britain and for the duration of Zachariah’s recovery.
Zachariah’s wife, Melia, is sent for. The children are left behind with their grandparents but ultimately join their parents in Britain a few years later.
Upon their arrival, it is apparent that Zachariah has changed markedly, undoubtedly due to the trauma he has encountered. This change has a profound effect on the family as a whole and in particular, on the youngest child, Anath, who in Byblos, had a very close relationship with her father and who, because she is a child, takes no account of the effects the trauma has had on her father.
She exhibits many of her father’s character traits – his tenacity, passion, intelligence and creativity - and this, lays the foundation for an intense, passionate and highly volatile relationship between the two and for much of the life’s duration of each and both, though their relationship is ultimately resolved and in the most unlikely way and over a period spanning two decades or thereabouts.
This relationship forms the core theme around which other interpersonal family relationships and dynamics evolve and reveal themselves. It is not long after the family’s reunion and after its arrival to England, that it becomes obvious to all that with Zachariah’s change, so too, have the family dynamics. It is equally obvious that changes have to be made and ultimately are, but not before some painful experiences are had and lessons learnt.