PalesTEENian review – engaging story of mixed identity is a bit of a muddle

Riverside Studios, London
Joe Haddad’s solo show tilts between family comedy and football fandom as well as the horrors of the Gaza war but never quite finds its focus

Joe Haddad’s solo show is a kind of self-referential standup set which tells us about his journey into comedy. It encompasses the negotiation of his dual identity as a Palestinian south Londoner and becomes a coming-of-age story.

Born in Croydon, with Arab Christian parents from Jerusalem, he faced prejudice at his Catholic school, including taunts of “Jew-boy” because there was so little understanding of Palestine and its history of occupation. It follows him to adulthood, and an assumed, Anglicised, stage name of Joe Adams, for fear of being cancelled (even his mother tells him not to mention Palestine during gigs).