Posted on January 24, 2022, by & filed under Events, News.


An Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) trip throughout the West Bank in Nov 2019 prompted actor/writer Norma Cohen to write her play KEY TO RETURN.


Directed by Steve Tiller (OperaMachine), there will be a 75 min. staged reading + Q&A on Thursday 3rd Feb. at 6pm for 6:30 PM at P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD.

 

We do hope you can join us!!

 

This work-in-progress event follows a crowdfunded 3-day workshop for an exciting group of actors from the Middle East & North Africa with director, writer, composer/musician Gemma Storr & a Palestinian oud player at Broadgate Arena c/o New Diorama Theatre,  Feb 1st -3rd. Facebook Page.


KEY TO RETURN: Longsuffering tour guide Ahmad steers illicit sightseers through Israel and the West Bank foiled by checkpoints and settler confrontations, when his simmering patience finally snaps. The play highlights the turbulence of daily Palestinian life under occupation. Told through a clamouring chorus of voices alive and dead, stories of suffering, displacement and revolt are revealed during an erratic, day long road trip through Israel and the Occupied Territories led by a genial driver waylaid into confrontation at every roadblock and military incursion.

Taslima, a young mother from a refugee camp stitches an elaborately embroidered dress through which emerge voices recounting tales of anguish & joy: from a female Bedouin elder harassed by settlers, a checkpoint coffee seller & Jordan Valley farmer defending his land to disembodied children’s voices emerging from the Bethlehem Wall  `shadow villages’ bulldozed to rubble in `48 - apart from the intervention of an eighty-year-old Jewish peace activist. Themes of resilience, hope & a capacity to celebrate the simplest grains of life counter an underlying sense of frustration endured during an unresolved, 70-year occupation


This performance will be dedicated to the memory of Haj Suleiman, a Bedouin activist elder killed by an Israeli truck on Jan. 17th, 2022. https://www.972mag.com/haj-suleiman-masafer-yatta-police/

Norma met Haj Suleiman on her visit to the village of Umm al-khair & took this defiant photo of him.  His brave stance over incursions from nearby settlers & the military inspired a major, culminating scene in her play.

 

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/253945446667

Further info: Norma Cohen:  normacohen52@gmail.com;www.normacohen.co.uk

Steve Tiller::  steve.tiller1@gmail.com;


Lateral flow test prior to the event & mask wearing during the show appreciated.