Palestinian writer-actress Khawla Ibraheem tugs at the heartstrings in her Gaza-set monologue A Knock on the Roof, which opened Monday at the New York Theatre Workshop, recounting the plight of a young mother in an unnamed Gaza city that is being subjected to repeated attacks by the Israeli military that have leveled nearby buildings. Ibraheem’s one-woman show is a curious exercise — a fictionalized account of the psychological effects of wartime that is oddly divorced from the politics of the region.
Ibraheem’s character, Mariam, the daughter of a Christian father and Muslim mother, is largely silent on the military, political, and economic injustices that have led to her current circumstances: raising her 6-year-old son in an apartment building continually under threat of nighttime bombing raids by Israeli military forces while her husband, Omar, is overseas pursuing a doctorate. She’s a sympathetic figure, but she’s oddly silent about some glaring aspects of her life. If there are challenges to maintaining a job or securing food and other necessities in the midst of war, we hear next to nothing about them — nor about any friends or family who died in previous bombing campaigns that might heighten the sense of danger. Instead, Mariam’s sole focus seems to be the prospect that her apartment building may be bombed into rubble and the hope that such a tragedy might be preceded by a smaller explosive — what locals have dubbed “a knock on the roof” — that would provide sufficient warning for her and her neighbors to escape with whatever belongings they can gather quickly.
This idea obsesses Mariam, and she takes to rehearsing her potential escape, armed with a watch alarm, an already-assembled go bag, as well as a textbook-stuffed pillowcase roughly the weight of her son (whom she worries she’ll have to carry because he’s a “heavy sleeper”). Oliver Butler stages these sequences with striking lighting (by Oona Curley), projections (by Hana S. Kim), and music (sound by Rami Nakhleh) that suggest a Mideast version of Run Lola Run. Alas, like Tom Tykwer’s 1998 film, we get multiple versions of Mariam’s rehearsal for disaster — and the effect becomes more numbing and repetitive than suspenseful.
Ibraheem casts a striking presence on stage, though her accent can sometimes make it hard to distinguish her lines. But A Knock on the Roof, which began as a 10-minute monologue, feels stretched thin — and the surprise ending strains credulity too much to deliver the bang that she seems to intend. In the end, we’re left with an apolitical parable about the perils of over-preparedness — an idea that’s so universal that you don’t need a topical Gaza setting to absorb the message. ★★☆☆☆
A KNOCK ON THE ROOF
New York Theatre Workshop, Off Broadway
Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through February 16
Culture Sauce 
its 2025 and not a single person, from the writer, to the editor, to the publisher of the piece, saw through or aimed to rectify the blatant racism dripping through this piece. Next time you go to the theater, please put your expectations (and pre-conceived notions) of the show and its makers away before you do. Theater is never meant to affirm pre-existing biases and fallacies, especially those passed down through contemporary American society and educational system. If what you see doesn’t sit well with you, maybe try thinking about why instead of writing pungent reviews.