HASSAN Abdulrazzak's politically provocative new play, Love, Bombs & Apples, highlights the struggles of four men across the globe, on tour in the York Theatre Royal Studio on Wednesday and Thursday.

Produced by AIK Productions & Turtle Key Arts, this one-man show from the award-winning writer of Baghdad Wedding and The Prophet uses comedy as a vehicle to draw attention to social issues and tackle problems facing Arab, Jewish and Muslim communities across the world.

Four vignettes detail the lives of four men with four individual struggles, each experiencing a moment of revelation, with the stories being told from the perspective of unrelated characters.

Scene 1, Love In The Time Of Barriers, conveys life under occupation for the average Palestinian. Emad is a Palestinian actor playing Hamlet at AlKasba theatre when, on the opening night, he meets a beautiful English girl, but they can't go to his parents’ or his friends’ place. In desperation to court her, he takes her to the security barrier, thinking it will be quiet as no-one goes there at night, but that's when the couple come under the search lights of Israeli soldiers.

Scene 2, Level 42, tells the story of a British Muslim jailed under suspicion of terrorism. Sajid is a Pakistani-born aspiring writer who pens what he thinks will be the definitive post 9/11 novel, which he sends to all the publishers and critics in Britain. When the police arrive at his home with their sniffer dogs, however, he begins to realise that not everyone is convinced his novel is a work of fiction.

Scene 3, The Apple, features a disenfranchised youth tempted by IS. A Bradford youth is in love with the Mac store at Westfield; his object of desire is the iPhone, yet he suspects that Westfield was built to pacify Asian youth like himself, stopping him and others from going over to Syria for jihad, but doesn't the iPhone have a lot in common with ISIS?

Scene 4, Landing Strip, presents a Jew torn between his liberal girlfriend and Zionist father. Isaac is in love with Sarah but things are going sour between them. She is a pro-Palestinian activist and his father fights tooth and nail for Israel. Tonight, Isaac must decide which side he is on.

While the themes visited in Love, Bombs & Apples are diverse, the stories are unified by Abdulrazzak’s deeply personal method of storytelling, humorous approach and political commentary. Set against the backdrop of worldwide political instability, with the looming threat of civil unrest, this one-man play highlights the problems in today’s global and multicultural landscape.

Taking on some of the world’s most notoriously contentious issues in the news today, Abdulrazzak humanises the very real situations faced by indigenous and diasporic Arab, Muslim and Jewish communities.

Abdulrazzak is of Iraqi origin, born in Prague and now living in London, and draws from his own experiences. His first play, Baghdad Wedding, was first staged at the Soho Theatre in London in 2007, before touring the world and being broadcast on BBC Radio.

Commenting on his latest venture, he says: "Love Bombs & Apples was born from a love of short-story writing. There is a satisfyingly concentrated punch to a short story that a novel cannot replicate. I wanted to take on big subjects through the medium of comedy, which I feel the short-story format allows you to do very well.

"The show is very theatrical, and driven by several political messages, but at the same time has some elements of stand-up. I wanted to create interesting stories that will engage the audience, make them laugh and think about the world in a slightly different way than they did before entering the theatre."

Presenting Abdulrazzak's monologues, actor Asif Khan shifts seamlessly between the individual stories, as he switches from an Arab in Jerusalem to a Jewish man in New York, on a minimalist set design by Mila Sanders that makes use of only a handful of props.

Khan says: "There are many challenges such as fully embodying physically and vocally each of the four characters I'm playing. But I think the most challenging thing with this piece in particular is stamina: having the stamina to keep the audience fully engaged for 90 minutes, with no interval, but it worked out last year and so we can take confidence from that."

Tickets for the 7.45pm performances are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the box office.