September 6, 2024
Premiere: The promise of revolution - voices from Palestine
Motforestillinger is currently rehearsing the documentary play "The Promise of Revolution", now in a version suitable for the Cultural Rucksack.
Motforestillinger has started a week of preliminary rehearsals of the documentary theater piece "The Promise of Revolution" by Zoe Delemere Lafferty (Artists on the Frontline) and Ahmed Tobasi (The Freedom Theatre), now in a version suitable for The Cultural Rucksack, with Kloden teater as co-producer.
The story of The Freedom Theatre
The production tells the story of The Freedom Theater in Jenin on the West Bank, in addition to testimonies from a number of well-known Palestinian artists. It is a story about occupation, censorship and injustice, but also about courage, steadfastness and the power of art.
The play has been translated into Norwegian and is produced by Motforestillinger (Vibeke Harper and Marius Kolbenstvedt). The actors are Anna Dworak and Gisle Hass.
"The Promise of Revolution" conveys a love of life, art and freedom, and of not being silenced by the occupying power's ingenious attempts to crush it through censorship, imprisonment and torture.
Great contrasts
And while they work in the scenic and peaceful surroundings of Nesodden, Vibeke Harper tells us that updates are coming in from the theater in Jenin:
The Israeli army withdrew from Jenin and Jenin refugee camp on the night of Friday, September 6, after a ten-day, three-hour invasion. They destroyed streets and buildings with bulldozers and bombs, they arrested, injured and killed. The population was terrorized and displaced. Among those killed is also the son of Zakaria Zubeidi, one of the founders of The Freedom Theater. Mohammad Zubeidi was 21 years old. Zakaria himself has been held in an Israeli prison since 2019, the last three years in solitary confinement," says Vibeke, who sends warm thoughts, condolences and solidarity to the family and The Freedom Theatre, to Jenin and Palestine.
The performance premieres during this year's Showbox and is supported by Scenekunstbruket.
It feels more important than ever to convey the stories from reality in the transforming landscape of art.
Vibeke Harper