Two lives. One past. A hundred years apart. A story that refuses to stay buried.
Berlin, 2022. Artur’s a 19-year-old refugee who’s stuck in a city that doesn’t feel like home, trapped between worlds, conflicting roles and by the ghosts of his desperate escape from the Syrian civil war. His only release is a dead-end job washing dishes, where the casual racism of the customers makes him invisible.
Then someone from his journey shows up: Hagop. Same age, same trauma, same questions. What begins as a joyful reunion becomes a reckoning with identity, with memory and with the question of how to be free.
From the deserts of 1915 to the chaos of today, Bones in the Desert explores the legacy of genocide and the lives it still touches. With raw honesty and urgency, it also confronts mental well-being, racism in contemporary Europe and the cost of silence.
Written by British-Armenian playwright Joe Nerssessian, this powerful new play speaks directly to young adult audiences with heart, humour and an unflinching gaze. It’s about where we come from, who we carry with us and what it means to belong.
Threading together forgotten massacres and modern-day violence, it weaves a haunting, cross-generational tapestry of loss, inheritance and the quiet rebellion of those who choose to speak.
Presented in an immersive style with a pulsating contemporary soundtrack, Bones in the Desert is the latest production from Half Moon, the UK’s leading small-scale young people’s venue and touring company.
Directed by Chris Elwell.
Please note: this is an immersive one-hour show, during which the audience is asked to remain standing.
Members get 40% off tickets for this event
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