The tour of this production couldn’t be more timely with refugees and small boats still making headline news while tragedies take place and lives are lost.

Like the best-selling novel by Christy Lefteri on which the show is based, The Beekeeper of Aleppo focuses not on the polemics, the numbers and the language around refugees and migrants but instead homes in on one extended family trying to escape the war in Syria and build a new life in the UK.

The story begins with Nuri, played by understudy Aram Mardourian, being asked to describe his journey to the refugee centre in Britain. Nuri then attempts to tell his story, jumping back and forth between his current experiences in the UK and the family’s escape.

It is a fractured tale made even more so by the fact that we are dealing with traumatized human beings who have faced unimaginable loss. The plot focusses not just on their physical journey but also on their mental journeys as they attempt to rebuild their relationships and their lives.

Adapted by Nesrin Alrefaai and Matthew Spangler and directed by Miranda Cromwell, the play follows the novel pretty faithfully and succeeds in including some difficult plot twists so the audience is constantly discovering new elements of the couple’s journey and the lives of those around them.

The show doesn’t shy away from the hardships, showing us how brutal these treks can be with men, women and children abused and exploited physically, emotionally, financially and, in some cases, sexually. One wonders how any human beings can come through such experiences whole.

But there is also beauty to the show as we see friendships forged in the unlikeliest of places and a close relationship between Nuri and his cousin Mustafa – who has already moved to England. Their relationship was cemented in Aleppo where they kept bees together and the bees remain a constant symbol throughout the show – of industry, of togetherness and of hope.

Mardourian’s Nuri is a man torn in two. He wants to protect his family and yet, when he is unable to do so, he descends into his own world, where he confuses reality and fiction. Mardourian brings a good deal of empathy and subtlety to the role so that we all feel his pain. Daphne Kouma, understudying as his wife Afra, initially appears the weaker of the two as she is blind and understands little English, and yet we learn she has an inner strength which has carried her through terrible ordeals and which will continue to strive to regain the man she loves.

The rest of the cast play multiple roles with Joseph Long jumping back and forth between the gentle Mustafa and a Moroccan fellow asylum seeker who brings humour to the piece as he attempts to become an Englishman, sipping tea with milk and referring to Nuri as ‘geezer’.

Ruby Pugh’s set is a sandy landscape with a bunk bed which works brilliantly in terms of taking the story back and forth between different locations. The set is hugely aided by Ravi Deepres’ film designs which play onto what appear to be the walls of a house but cascade throughout the set bringing alive the bees of Aleppo, the dangerous seas and the war-torn homes of Syria.

Lefteri volunteered with a refugee project in Athens and this insight into the real stories behind the headlines is what brings this show alive. Behind the numbers and the prejudices we see people who are suffering and, for whom, love and family provide the healing.

A Nottingham Playhouse production, in association with Liverpool Everman and Playhouse, The Beekeeper of Aleppo plays Birmingham Rep’s main house until 17 June.

Four stars

Reviewed by Diane Parkes at Birmingham Rep on Thursday 15 June.