'Hampstead Theatre.... comes up with this tremendous new tragicomedy by the American writer Stephen Karam.'

'Heavens this is good writing, beautifully realised. “At the risk of stating the obvious, all the characters are equally human,” Karam writes in the text. Yes, he adds, even the ones who say stupid things. The sense of grief is palpable, yet so too is the sense of making do and getting on.'

'Samal Blak’s artfully spare two-level set uses a minimum of scenery against its black backdrop to make the settings instantly evocative. The acting is terrific. True to the playwright’s request, nobody caricatures, everyone hits the seriocomic sweet spot.'

'Caustically funny, richly human, Sons of the Prophet somehow feels familiar and not quite like anything you’ve seen before. More, please, from its author and from this theatre.'

To read the full review visit The Times online here.

'Stephen Karam’s eccentric comedy about two brothers struggling with their dad’s bizarre death is a real gem of a play'

‘Sons of the Prophet’ follows two parentless young brothers dealing with the unfamiliar interpersonal architecture following their dad’s death, and that alone feels pretty season-appropriate, even before you consider the fact that it’s very, very funny, contains the odd bit of gorgeous choral music and even has a dinky light-up tree in one corner of the stage.'

'Director Bijan Sheibani’s closely naturalistic production is packed with memorably weird performances. Irfan Shamji and Eric Sirakian have an immaculate rapport as twentysomething brothers Joseph and Charles: they constantly talk over each other, Sirakian’s little bro needling away at Shamji’s suffering big sibling like a wasp buzzing round a bear’s ear, their tensions culminating in a hilariously painful-looking fight in a hospital bed. As Bill, Raad Rawi is the cantankerous custodian of tradition, maintaining links to their Lebanese Christian heritage (the family’s part of a division of the Eastern Church called the Maronites) by clinging to the gory stories of saints, their perseverance through suffering offering comfort in his. And Juliet Cowan delivers a standout performance as Gloria, the comically clueless wealthy publisher who’s paying for Joseph’s health insurance, her purse strings loosened by her obsession with his Maronite heritage and the solutions to her own spiritual malaise it seems to hold.'

Another Karam play, ‘The Humans’, was a big hit for Hampstead Theatre in 2018, so it’s easy to see why it’s hosting a belated European premiere for this earlier work (which premiered in 2011 in New York). ‘Sons of the Prophet’ might be a decade-old play set in an obscure Christian community in rural Pennsylvania but there’s so much that’ll speak to a UK audience in 2022: its insight into the terrors of navigating a failing health system, its sharp comment about class and tokenism in the arts, its exploration of how these brothers keep stumbling along as the world dumps more and more pain at their door.'

'It’s a tribute to Karam’s skill as a playwright that so much hope and humour shine through this broken but colourful stained-glass-window of a play.'

To read the full review visit Time Out online here.