Project Work
Ayyam Al Masrah (Theatre Day Productions), Gaza City and Hebron, Palestinian Territories
Ayyam Al Masrah (Theatre Day Productions) aims to provide every child in the Palestinian territories with one 'Theatre Day' per year in order to help children find creative talents, discover their expressive capacities and cultivate a sense of self. Their plays are professional productions targeted towards young people in the Palestinian territories: the plays reflect the experiences of communities and draw upon Palestinian/Arab cultural and literary traditions. To further develop childrenâ€Ts creative talents, TDP also run workshops in free expression where sessions are shaped by the ideas of the participating children. TDP support the development of a Palestinian theatre tradition by working directly with the next generation of artists via their youth theatre programme and theatre training centre for young professionals.
The Walking Boy' is a production devised in 2000, and performed to audiences of young people throughout the years of the Intifada in Gaza and the West Bank by actors from TDP's training programme. It was inspired by a concern for the impact of close witnessing of the Intifada on young people, and tells the story of a boy who is shot whilst walking to school. The play traces the boy's life, family, friendships prior to this. He is accompanied by this figure in a bizarre coat that represents his imagination: the company describes this character as an embodied, surreal and dreamlike manifestation of hope and imagination in a time of conflict and despair. This figure asks Omar (the child who is shot in the play) and the children in the audience to use their imagination to bring about an alternative reality and maintain a sense of hope at a time of destruction and fear.
Plonter ( 'Tangle' ), Cameri Theatre
Tel Aviv, Israel
'Plonter' is a professional production devised by a group of Israeli and Israeli-Arab actors inside Israel. The play is presented in Arabic, Hebrew and English, with actors playing characters from the opposite side of the conflict (Israeli-Arab actors playing Israeli soldiers for example, and Jewish actors playing mothers who have lost children inside the Palestinian territories). The piece was created by cast members discussing issues, conducting research and sharing personal experiences via drama workshops. The resultant play is an amalgamation of the discussions and stories that arose from the group and research process. The main aim of 'Plonter' is to show the difficulty and absurdity of life inside the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 'Plonter' was directed by Yael Ronen, premiered at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and toured to South Africa.
Arab Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa
Ancient Jaffa, Israel
Situated in the Old City of Jaffa, the Arab-Hebrew Theatre is made up of two theatre organisations, the Hebrew language Local Theatre and the Arabic Al-Saraya Theatre. The two groups share a theatre space and sometimes engage in joint productions; however, they both also produce work on their own. One of the theatre's principal projects was 'Longing', a play about people living in Israel who have been displaced by the conflict, or have immigrated to Israel from other countries. The play exhibits the diversity and complexity of the cultural make-up of Israeli society. The theatre seeks to promote a multicultural national framework where the contributions of both Israeli-Arabs and Jewish artists are recognised and celebrated. This is also reflected in the theatre's community work, where they sponsor events that seek to bring the two groups together.
'Plonter' is a professional production devised by a group of Israeli and Israeli-Arab actors inside Israel. The play is presented in Arabic, Hebrew and English, with actors playing characters from the opposite side of the conflict (Israeli-Arab actors playing Israeli soldiers for example, and Jewish actors playing mothers who have lost children inside the Palestinian territories). The piece was created by cast members discussing issues, conducting research and sharing personal experiences via drama workshops. The resultant play is an amalgamation of the discussions and stories that arose from the group and research process. The main aim of 'Plonter' is to show the difficulty and absurdity of life inside the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 'Plonter' was directed by Yael Ronen, premiered at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and toured to South Africa.
