At Home in Gaza and London
Photo by Rob Harris
At Home in Gaza and London follows the lives of 10 people living in two locations separated by great political, economic and physical divides.
By using a mix of live-streaming and recorded video, a single performance space was created where the performers worked together. Occupying each other’s homes and streets, and daily concerns like marriage, protest, the joys of the Surrey hills, a rooftop in Gaza City, children, the cinema, a forbidden pas de deux, the benefits of a massacre, how to be safe, they became ghostly protagonists in each other’s drama.
At the end the two audiences were invited to join the performers on stage for a communal meal together, and the chance to mingle with those on the other side.
with Ayah Abdelrahman, Abeer Ahmed, Tara Fatehi Irani, Ali Al-Hassany, Yoko Ishiguro, Julian Maynard Smith, Mariam Nasser, Hamza Saftawi, Walid Tafesh and Owl Young.
Directed by Julian Maynard Smith & Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso
“When you mix art, technology & heart it can be challenging, groundbreaking, raw & brilliant - Station House Opera got it so right! Political & daring theatre on the edges of performance. Excellent.” – Andrew Ellerby, Arts Council England
“It takes a few moments to realise whether we are looking at England or Gaza and which of the characters are really there.” – Middle East Monitor
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Assistant Directors: Ebaa Rezeq and Amjad Shabat.
Sound by Enrico Aurigemma
Technical team: Matthew Wasser, Hani Mortaja, Mohammed Al Ghoul, Mohammed Salem, Alex Hewitt, Paul Thomas.
Produced by Ania Obolewicz for Artsadmin
The journey has been supported by: Arts Council England, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Qattan Foundation, Battersea Arts Centre, Gaza Sky Geeks, Fusion, LIFT, Arab British Centre, Watermans. With thanks to producers Victoria Lupton and Aimee Shalan (Pressure Cooker Arts), Najlaa Atallah, Yasmeen El-Khoudary.
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Watermans Art Centre, Brentford and Al Meshal, Gaza, January 2016
Toynbee Studios, London and Al Meshal, Gaza, November 2016
Battersea Arts Centre, London, and El Wedad Theatre, Gaza, June/July 2018
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, and El Wedad Theatre, Gaza, July 2018
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At Home in Gaza and London by Amelia Smith
08 Feb 2016
Work disscussed: At Home in Gaza and LondonPublished in Middle East MonitorAt Home in Gaza and London by
18 Jan 2016
Work disscussed: At Home in Gaza and London
Published in Reuters/TNT World
