Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (reviewed Tuesday 13 January 2026).
Nowhere written and performed by Hollywood English-Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla is a 90-minute personal tour of displacement, identity and yearning for peace.
Khalid opens the show with the premise that the stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines and say nothing about the current state of the world.
Autobiographical and candid, Khalid rummages through the closet of his childhood to extract cherished moments that shaped his identity and upbringing.
The Egyptian revolution and intractable conflict across neighbouring regions forms a powerful backdrop to this story.
One thing I am sensitive to as an Australian-Egyptian woman, is that beneath the obscene violence associated with our culture (thanks to uprisings, regimes, and endless news channels) Egyptians actually have a rather quirky – and absurdist – sense of humour. It’s how we connect and move forward – by making light of trauma.
Khalid shared that approach in some ways – showing his best friend dying of pancreatic cancer, laughing and joking about it on the day of his diagnosis.
Egyptians’ capacity for beautiful and poetic expression is also glimpsed, in the form of sketches and portraits and one or two quotes (“they tried to bury us but we grew like seeds”).
I do believe in a show like this there’s room to harvest how Egyptians phrase things in a particular way that can be deeply heartfelt and profound. Love, hospitality and generosity are often completely overlooked, overshadowed by hatred and visions of exploding bombs.
That said, (and what felt a little diminishing for me), is I don’t think audiences need to be reminded that Egyptians are typecast as terrorists. But Khalid is an actor after all, with too many examples of typecast encounters, so I guess that’s why he chose to include that material.
On a more interesting and historical note, Khalid’s story dives into colonial interference, and the British officials who carved up Egypt and surrounding countries for exploitation and profit. He asserts that a pathway to healing and peace cannot be achieved without fully contextualising how much damage has been done in the past.
Judging by the audience’s reaction and speaking to audience members afterwards, I am comfortably confident in saying the show is accessible and engaging for the most part, due to different modes of storytelling, endearing humour and audience engagement. But the narrative also jumps around a lot, sometimes brutal, sometimes light and a bit rushed, leaving more questions than answers about the sensitive and heartfelt themes discussed in the show.
Nowhere is presented by Fuel as part of the Sydney Festival program until Saturday 17 January 2026. For tickets and showtimes go to https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/nowhere
CREDITS:
Writer and Performer – Khalid Abdalla
Director – Omar Elerian
Choreographer – Omar Rajeh
Designer – Ti Green
Video Designer – Sarah Readman
Lighting Designer – Jackie Shemesh
Sound Designer – Panos Chountoulidis
Dramaturgy – Ruth Little
Writing Mentor – Chris Thorpe
Hero image photography – Helen Murray
Image Credit:
Neil Bennett