Please join us for a workshop and discussion with renowned Palestinian theatre maker and Birkbeck Honorary Research Fellow Hossam Madhoun reflecting on how artists use theatre and performance to create spaces of therapeutic practice for young people in Gaza.
The session will be comprised of two parts. It will begin with a workshop, 3pm-5pm:
The workshop will explore the potential of culturally embedded and creative therapeutic practices in Gaza, and addressing interconnected questions of healing, liberation, and justice in the Palestinian context.
The workshop will be followed by an artist's talk, 5.30pm-7pm, which comprises the final Drama and Performance Seminar of term.
Both sessions are open to all - and you may attend either or both of the sessions. No booking required, but please email in advance if you have any access needs that we can support you with.
HOSSAM MADHOUN is a theatre maker, playwright and writer who worked in Gaza City for more than thirty years before being displaced to Egypt in April 2024. With Jamal Al Rozzi, he co-founded the Theatre for Everybody in Gaza in 1987. Since 2009, he has been collaborating with London's Az Theatre through the Gaza Drama Long Term partnership, producing a range of plays, workshops,performance projects (live and virtual) and exhibitions including Breathing Space (2009), Opening Signs (2011), War&Peace (2013), Here, There, Everywhere (2017), more information about which can be found here: https://aztheatre.org.uk/. One of his recent projects (again with the Az Theatre and Artists on the Frontline) includes Another Day: Messages from Gaza (London, 2023), a live reading of accounts sent by him from Gaza since October 2023, which you can read and listen to here: https://aztheatre.org.uk/ He is currently a fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Theatre at Birkbeck, University of London. Alongside his work for the theatre, he has also worked with the Ma'an Development Centre, a Gaza-based NGO, and developed a range of drama therapy programmes for children affected by conflict.
Further information/context
FB theatre for everybody group: https://www.facebook.com/TFEPalestine/
Article about the political power of theatre: https://www.culturematters.org.uk/the-political-power-of-palestinian-theatre/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQXfm9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEesVSn-K2hsyoaVh5XndE_QQOXthMqqEtGwj_kRmhEr9SZpfdFkdpMDN4jmGY_aem_0FylOPywaYSD0Y5afY1g0g
Any queries please email: zas21@cam.ac.uk / Kemal Sultanov
The Judith E. Wilson Drama Studio is in the Basement of the Faculty of English and is accessible by lift or by stairs.
