The Palestinian performer Alaa Shehada arrives to an enthusiastic reception at the packed Theatre Royal Stratford East. Using masks, mime, dance and occasional audience participation, he tells a mostly amusing, sometimes poignant personal story linked to the famous metal sculpture known as The Horse of Jenin.
It stood sixteen feet high at what became known as the Horse Roundabout in Jenin on the occupied West Bank since 2003, celebrated locally and praised internationally. The German artist Thomas Kilpper working with a dozen local youths had created the statue from the wreckage of bombed buildings and vehicles that dotted the area following the regular Israeli military raids.
A brief film that concludes the performance shows youths making the figure and then touring it about the area, where it is greeted and followed by crowds of excited children.
An early scene shows Alaa in a mask as his grandfather, moving awkwardly with a walking stick, bringing Alaa the child a treasured miniature horse, explaining how important it is as a symbol of freedom of movement.
It is never a safe or easy thing to move around in an area subject to Israeli control. We hear of one raid in 2002 causing deaths and injuries not only to the building they bombed but also to an ambulance racing to help the injured. A rocket grenade fired by a tank destroyed the vehicle killing Khalil Suleiman, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society Emergency Medical Service in Jenin.
Alaa in mask conjures up the scene in which a journalist on camera speaks to Alaa’s distraught friend, Ahmed, who is rummaging through the debris of the bombed building. The journalist gently asks the young lad if he is searching for a family member, to which Ahmed says he is looking for a PlayStation.
A section of that ambulance and part of that PlayStation will be among the bits and pieces recovered from terrible attacks that are incorporated into the sculpture.
But the memories of the horse are also special in other ways. Alaa recalls smoking his first cigarette with Ahmed under the horse's legs and of the statue becoming the place where he would regularly meet up with his first love.
The Freedom Theatre of Jenin became a particular favourite for Alaa, drawing him into acting and eventually giving him opportunities to be a comedian performing for the community with his mother sitting proudly in the audience.
The show never loses sight of Palestinian suffering, but Alaa also very confidently conveys an uplifting mood that includes many moments of humour, pride and hope.
In September 2023, an Israeli Defence Force bulldozer arrived at the Horse Roundabout, scooped up the statue and carried it off to be destroyed. It wasn’t enough for the Israelis to continuously remove or kill Palestinians, they had to also erase their culture.
Although very few audience members will not have known about the cruelty of this event, it is a moment of sadness that brings tears rolling down the face of somebody seated nearby. But Alaa shifts the mood in a positive direction as he reminds us that they “can’t destroy its meaning. Now the horse is you.”