Ever wondered how far the story of creation from the Bible could go? Genesis, a playful story from director Moemen Gaafar pushes the boundries of the classic tale into an existential loop, a play-within-a-play style show. Starring the talented duo, Kit Brooks as Eve and Ali Muhammad Khowaja as Adam, the metaphorical, layered piece reflects themes of freedom and the act of choosing your own story despite what is written for you.

The show primarily follows Adam, a playwright stuck in writer's block. He writes Eve into his story but can't decide on how to progress the story, leading him to discover a portal into the world he wrote: Eve's closet. He then convinces Eve that she was brought to life thanks to the notebook he drafted his script in, and that she must help him by going back into the closet and switching roles with him. But will things turn out how Adam hopes, getting the inspiration he needs?

Genesis is evidently referential to the Bible story several times, with the act of writing in the notebook to determine events very clearly being a metaphor for Adam and Eve's first experiences with freedom and control from God. Ali and Kit play these raw emotions out really effectively, and are both great actors in their own right. The two appear to have slightly different acting styles: Ali being very physical, energetic and dramatic, whereas Kit is grounded, natural, and realistic. There are especially some noticeable moments where they bounce off each other well, keeping your eyes glued onto the stage to watch what happens next.

The lighting and sound choices made in the show truly piqued my interest. Whilst generally, the transitions were a little stiff and lacked any sound, the moments where lots of sound effects were used were hard to ignore. The scene where Adam is...under the influence let's say (wink wink) is especially noteworthy with these moving green spotlights and loud, chaotic backtrack. It perfectly set the mood for the kind of uncomfortable position Adam was in in that moment.

Overall, Genesis was quite enjoyable and intriguing. I found myself constantly wondering what would happen next. Though described as a comedy/drama, the show is definitely more drama than it is comedy; though that does not in any way affect how much I liked it. Most of all, the message I took away from the show was one of writing your own destiny so as to not keep yourself in an endless loop; but maybe the ending is meant to be ambiguous. I'd recommend this play to anyone who wants to take on the challenge of interpreting the ending of this simply enthralling story.