A collection of nine short plays by Palestinian playwrights, poets and artists is currently showing at Theatre503 in London, demonstrating that theatre can survive even in the most extreme conditions. Directed by Ahmed Masoud and Micaela Miranda, the production was staged with just one week of rehearsals. Four of the writers are currently in Gaza, while two are former political prisoners, including Walid Daqqa, one of the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners who died in custody in 2024.
The plays range from absurdist to harrowing. An extract from The Martyrs Return to Ramallah features dead bodies of prisoners stored in Israeli prisons who begin to talk to each other. The Last Letter by Mohammed Al Qudwa presents a bewildered character in the last house standing on a wrecked Gazan street receiving letters full of existential questioning. Ruins by Jehad Abu Dayya depicts a family trapped under rubble who must perform an improvised amputation.
Lived experience intersects with political theatre as the plays move from hospitals to morgues to refugee camps. In We Are… Doctors, by Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian medic is told that words of sympathy towards injured Palestinians “can be crimes”. Five Minutes by Motasem Abu Hasan brings rushed levity as it summarises the arrest of a brother and son in Nablus with exaggerated comic urgency, including a mother begging an Israeli soldier for a last hug with her son.
Several children's plays offer moments of hope. Santa Claus on Holiday by Nahil Mohana features a visit from Santa to the bombed terrain of Gaza; he comes with an empty sack but speaks of the importance of laughter and hope. The production, produced by Joel Samuels of Bet'n Lev Theatre along with the White Kite Collective and PalArt Collective, captures a sense of real-time drama and tragedy, similar in urgency to Nicolas Kent's recent collection Ukraine Unbroken at the Arcola theatre.
