The Freedom Theatre of Jenin has long toured Palestinian communities, dramatising their experiences and becoming a regular target of Israeli harassment. In April, its producer and general manager, Mustafa Sheta, was released from 16 months of administrative detention.
Micaela Miranda, the director of Return to Palestine, reported to the audience that Jenin “has been under intensified Israeli military occupation for over 127 days… all 20,000 residents have been forcibly displaced and... The Freedom Theatre building is inaccessible”. However, that hasn’t stopped the company from performing the play and bringing it to London.
Return to Palestine weaves together several stories collected during a 2016 Palestine tour into the drama of Jad (Osama Alazza), a Palestinian-American visiting his homeland.
A cast of six actors and two musicians gives us a versatile, engaging performance playing multiple characters and sometimes representing with their bodies props such as tables and vehicles. Often, a group of them will form a visually striking pose to represent a checkpoint, a wall, a café or some other element of the world they live in. Two musicians, Saied Silbak, the oud player, and Nuno Brito, the percussionist, sitting to the side of the stage, help to conjure up location and atmosphere with touches of music
The show opens with a satirical welcome from the Statue of Liberty and a version of the US national anthem, which includes the words “We are the land of the free! No one can be free, but we.”
Jad was born in America, and at times early on, he refers to himself as Jack rather than Jad, but hearing stuff about Palestine, he decides to see what it’s like for himself. His sister (Sofia Asir) asks him to find out while he is there what happened to her childhood friend, Rema.
The journey is peppered with minor surprises. The Israeli passenger sitting next to him on the plane moves their seat when they realise he is Palestinian. An official at passport control in Tel Aviv is shocked to read that Jad’s second name is Mohammad.
When he phones his uncle Mamoud to pick him up, he is told he’ll have to get a taxi because Mamoud hasn’t got a permit that would allow him. The first taxi driver he asks to take him to Jenin drives away without explaining why. As an Arab taxi driver takes him to the West Bank, he tells Jad about a terrible history of occupation, checkpoints and beatings. But Jad is in awe of seeing “beautiful houses... Big villas, with swimming pools, trees”. The taxi driver says, “my friend, these are settlements, the colonies”.
Soon, they are on very bumpy roads as they meet Jad’s uncle Mamoud (Alaa Shehadah) closer to Jenin, much later than Jad expected. No one is surprised about the delay given the checkpoints.
As Mamoud gives Jad a tour of the West Bank on the back of his motorbike, they hear more stories of the daily irritations Palestinians face from the occupation. In Fassayel, Jad is introduced to the older man Haj Ali (Gráinnemir AbuAlrob) and the older woman Om Ali (Ameena Adileh). Haj describes the madness of trying to get to other towns to buy a wedding dress for the woman who was to marry his son, and being turned away by soldiers at every checkpoint.
At another stop in the tour, Jad is introduced to Malek (Motaz Malhees), a youth about his age, with whom he finds he has a lot in common. Malek’s mother updates Jad on what has happened to his sister’s childhood friend, Rema.
There is a Brechtian humour to many of the well-choreographed encounters in this show, which doesn’t shy away from the suffering that hangs over the heads of all Palestinians. One of the post-show speakers explains that “Freedom Theatre is not just theatre, it's an ideology. What we want is our freedom... It opens its doors to all people around the world, not just Palestinians.”