RETURNS TO PALESTINE
February 6-23, the street theatre play Return to Palestine will be toured across the West Bank.
Return to Palestine centres around Jad, a Palestinian born in America, who goes to Palestine for the first time in his life. Wanting to know more about his people and identity, he finds out that reality is very different from what he has seen in the news.
Return to Palestine is an original production by The Freedom Theatre, directed by Micaela Miranda and performed by an ensemble of graduates of The Freedom Theatre School. It was originally created in 2016, after extensive story-gathering in the communities engaged in The Freedom Theatre’s annual Freedom Ride. The play includes stories from Jenin refugee camp and city, Fasayel, Dheisheh refugee camp, Mufaqara and Gaza.
In a sarcastic, comic and tragic style, the actors create the space, characters and even the emotional spaces they live in, in a virtuoso play with their bodies in a very small stage – “as small as Palestine”.
Return to Palestine was performed to wide acclaim in Palestine, Jordan and Portugal in 2016. Read more about the play.
“35 minutes that talk about our whole history, the past and present, and with such great imagination! How did they do that?”
– Jamil, Hebron
“You give us hope! When we watch our stories being told in such an artistic way, we know our voice can reach far.”
– Abu Ashraf, Mufaqara
Arms, hands, legs become motorbikes, car doors, machine guns, tables, chairs, airplanes, birds and many other objects and beings to tell the story of the hard reality of that particular place but also to talk about universal issues like the search for identity, friendship and loss.”
– Ricardo Viel, Blimunda online magazine, Portugal
PERFORMANCES
February 6 at 14:00, The Freedom Theatre, Jenin refugee camp
February 7 at 12:00, Al-Yamoun village
February 8 at 12:00, Arrabe village
February 9 at 12:00, Jericho
February 12 at 13:00, Balata refugee camp
February 13 at 13:00, Zebabde village
February 14 at 13:00, Sayyda, Tulkarem
February 15 at 13:00, Salfit
February 16 at 13:00, Ashtar Theatre, Ramallah
February 19 at 13:00, Beit Anan village
February 20 at 13:00, Bani Na’im
February 21 at 13:00, Yes Theatre, Hebron
February 22 at 13:00, Dura
February 23 at 10:00, Aida refugee camp
February 23 at 14:00, Dheisheh refugee camp
Each performance will be followed by a discussion and workshop.
Performance times may be subject to minor changes. For location and performance details, please email
