“LET’S
WORK TOGETHER” IN THE 2ND FESTIVAL FOR ACTIVISM. JUNE 2003
Our first
experience as a theatre group in
front of audience was
in the ‘Festival for activism’ on Mt. Carmel, visited by hundreds of
environmentalists and human rights activists.
We performed a
play called “let’s work together”. The play’s title has double meaning as the
play is created as forum theatre (the theatrical method developed by the
Brazilian director Augusto Boal). According to this method the actors present a
situation in front of the spect-actors (-
the active
audience as described by Augusto Boal. In his book Games for actors and non
actors ) and with their cooperation.
The other meaning of the title is connected to the plot of the play, which
deals with Palestinian collaborators with Israeli secret services, who were
settled in the nineties in the Arabic settlements, in particular in the
jewish-arab mixed cities Acre, Lydda, Ramle, Haifa, and Jaffa. About 4000-5000
Palestinian collaborators and their families live today in Ramle, a society
that rejects and hates them.
The play
presents Abed (played by Muhammad), whose landlord faces him with a threat to
be sent away unless he pays the rent by the following day, as he was postponing
for two month. Abed explains that the Ministry of Defense had stopped paying,
but the landlord insists: “I pitied you for too long. If you pay, I’ll pity you
again.”
Abed seeks help
with his Jewish operator from the secret forces who turns him down. He then
turns to a Jewish employer who hates Arabs, especially collaborators (“You know
how my father and his friends from the Etzel would deal with traitors such as
you…”). He goes to see the Arab Israeli owner of a printing press who calls him
betrayer and murderer, although he himself does not print any work that goes
against governmental policies. Finally he talks to his Jewish lover. She asks
him to join her and a group of activists who will join forces to reconstruct a
house that the Israeli Defense Forces abolished in the occupied territories. At
this point Abed knees down and confess about his deeds in the past, but she
cannot forgive him.
At this point I –as the
facilitator- threw the ball into the spect-actors’ hands. They received this
ball eagerly and examined and manipulated Abed’s story.
First came on
stage a young man who wanted to know more about the motivation of ‘Abed to
collaborate with the Israeli forces. I let this spect-actor to pursue his
‘investigation’ in the form of a meeting on a bus, in which ‘Abed told the man
about his job, and that his children study in a Jewish school, since the Arab
kids hate them.
Next, the
spect-actors suggested having a Palestinian gunman whom would threat ‘Abed that
if he wouldn’t murder his operator, an “action” will be taken against his
parents. A young spect-actor, enrolled as the gunman with great success despite
the use of Hebrew rather than Arabic, gave ‘Abed a phone number to which he
shall call in two hours and announce his decision.
Other
spect-actors wanted to know more about ‘Abed’s children who get hurt although
innocent in this situation. So, we watched the interaction between ‘Abed’s 14
years old son, and the Jewish employer’s son. This scene became a saddening
reflection about the way children are influenced by conflicts that surround
them and they do not even understand.
As I announced
the last scene, the spect-actors were torn with Abed’s choice- Will he hand the
terrorist’s phone number to his “Shabak” operator and use the money he will get in return to pay the rent? Or will
he ‘repent’ and murder the operator?
We asked
Muhammad to make the decision on stage. Finally, Abed entered the operator’s
office and killed him.
Overall the
play was received well within the audience, and soon afterwards we were
interviewed from ‘El Etihad’ newspaper.
Uri Shani
Some links about Augusto Boal and Forum Theater:
http://www.beyondthedoor.co.uk/theatre/boalessay.htm
http://www.hipernet.ufsc.br/foruns/psicodrama/documentos/teatro/oprimido/ingles/intro.htm
http://www.northernvisions.org/boal.htm
http://csf.colorado.edu/forums/peace/jun98/0011.html
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-boal.htm
http://www.unomaha.edu/~pto/augusto.htm
more
links: http://www.tonisant.com/aitg/Boal_Techniques/
www.geocities.com/shimfiramle/theater-of-the-opressed-links.htm