the siege
April 2002. Spring in Bethlehem.
A group of armed men seek sanctuary in one of the world’s holiest sites as the Israeli army closes in with helicopters, tanks and snipers. Along with the fighters are some 200 priests, nuns and civilians.
The siege lasts for 39 days, paralysing the center of Bethlehem and keeping tens of thousands under curfew. Inside the Church of Nativity the besieged are hungry and weakening. While the world is watching, the fighters are faced with the question of whether to struggle to the end or to surrender.
The Siege is based on the 2002 events in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, that played out parallell to the invasion of Jenin Refugee Camp and made headlines worldwide. The directors traced the fighters, now exiled across Europe and Gaza, and collected their untold accounts of an event that with time has taken on almost mythical proportions.
THE FREEDOM THEATRE, PALESTINE
📍UK: Nottingham Playhouse, Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham Rep, The Lowry, The Tron, The Lakeside, The Hub, The Merlin Hastings, The Cut USA: New York Skirball Theatre
COMPANY
The Freedom Theatre, Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestine
WRITTEN BY
Nabil Al Raee
DIRECTORS
Zoe Lafferty & Nabil Al Raee
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Ala Shahada
PERFORMED BY
Ahmed Rokh, Ahmed Tobasi, Faisal Abu Alheja, Hassan Taha, Milad Qunebe, Rabee Hanani,
TEAM
SET DESIGNER
Anna Gisle
COSTUME DESIGNER
Mohammed Yousef
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Andy Purves
SOUND DESIGNER
Sami Al-Saadi
MUSIC
Noor Al-Raee, Nikola Kodjabashia, Dror Feiler
BASED ON THE RESEARCH BY
Ismael Jabarine & Zoe Lafferty