A scene from Kabul Photo: Courtesy of the Edinburgh Fringe Showcase 2014

A bucket, basin, kettle, cup, bowl, lantern and several pieces of cloth, with these simple props the Brazilian Amok Theatre manages to present an extraordinary performance full of power and tension in their stage play Kabul - a work that digs into the impact of war and reflects on the pain caused during a dark time in Afghanistan.

Featured at the Beijing Donggong Theatre from Tuesday to Thursday, the Brazilian play was brought to China to open the Edinburgh Fringe Showcase (EFS) 2014, which runs until December. Telling a story of two couples living in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1999, it shows how four ordinary people manage to adhere to the pure side of human nature and maintain dignity under the Taliban regime.

"Every country has its own sufferings, but some of them are similar. What the play talks about is universal," noted Crystal D, curator of EFS.

Choice in despair

"Women are prohibited from walking on the street alone or talking to strangers. They must wear long robes that wrap their entire body and face. Otherwise, they will be brutally published," a cold voice at the start of the play reads the laws of the Taliban after it took Kabul in 1996.

The ruthless monologue immediately transports the audience into the stifling atmosphere of that time and the sad story of two families.

One of the husbands is a jailor who has to face the suffering of prisoners every day and meanwhile dealing with his own pain. He has a wife he is not very fond of who is dying from an incurable disease. In intolerable pain, she struggles every day to fulfill her duty as a wife to shoulder household chores and take care of her husband.

In the other family, the husband has been rushing around trying to find a job but to no avail. He falls into boundless despair when he can't even find a job others would be ashamed to take, and he and his wife end up on the verge of starvation. The only light in his life is his wife, who is bright and optimistic, and he sees her as his last hope in life.

Though hopeless, their lives are peaceful until a woman is stoned to death. Both husbands witness the pitiful sight where, as the jailer describes to his wife, onlookers become thugs thirsty for blood and thrown stones at the woman who falls still after several minutes.

The play reaches one climax when the unemployed husband reveals to his wife that he was one of the men that killed the woman. "I don't know why there were stones in my hand. … It was like I was cursed by those people," he explains.

This revelation shocks his wife, who knows him as a gentle and elegant man. The two argue and the husband falls to his death by accident. As the woman is condemned to death for killing her husband, the audience finds out she is the younger sister of the other wife.

Unable to seek justice, the disease-ridden woman finally decides to die for her sister, covered in clothing from head to toe, she switch places with her sister. 

The play ends with a heartbreaking scene: Two sisters huddled in two different corners, one in jail quivering with pain and afraid of dying and the other waiting in the jailer's room shivering in fear about an unclear future.

A snapshot in time

This suffocating story taking place during a dark period of Afghanistan's history, Kabul is the second part of director Ana Teixeira's "Trilogy of War," alongside The Dragon and Family History, an artistic trajectory that reflects on harsh realities.

"The Amok Theatre conducted thorough research on the topic of war and the relationship between the scenic language and reality, which resulted in the creation of three shows," Teixeira told the Global Times. "With the 'War Trilogy' Amok Theatre hopes to bring audiences a dialogue that contains fundamental questions about our time."

Having won several heavyweight prizes in Brazil, Kabul stands out with its unique and realistic acting style that tries to build a dialogue over time and allows the audience to see the cruelty and pain to which violence leads, as well as universal human emotions. It tells the story of two women, but is also a reflection of the Afghanistan of that time.

According to Teixeira, the idea for Kabul came from a photograph taken in November, 1999 which showed a woman covered by a blue veil who was about to be publicly executed in a stadium in Kabul.

 "We decided to dive upon that image, and even go beyond. Who was that woman under the chador? What did her face look like? What was her story?" asked Teixeira. She added that the story the Amok Theatre tells in Kabul could very well be that woman's story.

They also turned to several other sources, including the novel The Swallows of Kabul by Algerian writer Yasmina Khadra, and the stories of many women in Afghanistan.

"Thus, Kabul is a fictional story based on real events," she concluded. "It is an ode to women and their ability to find solidarity and hope in the most arid situations of existence."

A focus on performance 

During the play, the layout of the stage was very simple. A square in the middle of the stage symbolized a house, with two pieces of cloth acting as a wall separating it in two. However, with the rich body language of the actors, this simple stage became a place that could stimulate the unlimited imagination of the audience allowing us to tell where the wall, bed, window or stairs were.

The powerful performance of four actors in traditional Afghanistan clothes greatly added to the touching story taking place under blurred yellow beams of light.

An ailing woman, a man in anguish, a fearful woman and a despairing man were all vividly depicted both in body and mind. The audience could feel their love and pain despite two of the characters having their faces covered by veils. 

Another highlight of the play was the music. A musician sat in a corner close to the audience and alternately played five traditional Middle Eastern musical instruments based on the needs of the plot. 

Sad music immediately created a sorrowful mood as the ailing woman appeared on the stage, and when the scene switched to the younger more vigorous couple the music became a bit brighter. Similar to the role of music in traditional Chinese opera, it served as an excellent guide throughout the show.

"The play has a strong script and focuses on the powerful representation of actors, against a simple stage layout," noted Crystal D. "While most Chinese theater works increasingly rely on fancy stage decoration, this play may give us something to learn.

Talking about Brazil, we all know about soccer and samba, but Kabul will show you the country also boasts excellent theater productions and troupes."

Kabul will be heading to Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Shenzhen throughout the rest of this month.