Latest news with #AlaaShehada
UAE Moments
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- UAE Moments
Two Palestinian Artists Win Awards at Edinburgh Fringe
At the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Palestinian artists Alaa Shehada and Sami Abu Wardeh captured critical acclaim and prestigious awards for their stirring solo performances, weaving together themes of cultural resistance, identity, and laughter amid adversity. Actor and writer Alaa Shehada received the Fringe First Award —bestowed by The Scotsman —for his solo show The Horse of Jenin. The performance centers on a symbolic horse sculpture erected in Jenin's West Bank using debris from a 2002 Israeli attack, which later became a landmark of Palestinian resilience before being bulldozed by Israeli forces in 2023. Over a compelling 70-minute narrative, Shehada intertwines personal stories, humour, and heartbreak, notably recalling the loss of his childhood friend Ahmed. The Scotsman lauded the production as 'a terrific tale of Palestinian life, laughter and tragedy under unimaginable pressure'. Shehada, reacting to the accolade on Instagram, declared, 'The show tells a story that has always mattered, and never more so. As the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank continues, … we must keep amplifying Palestinian voices, preserving culture and advocating for justice, freedom and an end to the violence.' The buzz around the show's emotional intensity and relevance has led to additional performances being scheduled on August 22 and 23. Meanwhile, Sami Abu Wardeh, an Irish-Palestinian comedian, earned the Heart Award in the Besties awards for his show Palestine: Peace de Resistance. His act creatively merges character sketches, physical theatre, puppetry, and biting political satire, raising the question of whether comedy itself can become an act of resistance. Drawing from his own life in exile, he delivers a performance described by Louis Cammell (Deputy Editor of Fest magazine) as 'passionate, epic and very funny'. Announcing the recognition on social media, Abu Wardeh simply celebrated, 'Winner! Bestie Award for Heart. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.' Both productions are being presented at the Pleasance Dome and contribute to the spotlight on Palestinian artistry amid one of the world's largest and most vibrant arts festivals, running through August 25.
The National
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Edinburgh Fringe award-winner retells story of West Bank landmark destroyed by Israel
Palestinian actor Alaa Shehada had been performing fragments of a story for months. It began with a four-minute piece that grew to 10 minutes, then 15, before he realised he had a full one-man play. The Horse of Jenin, about a statue that once stood in his home town in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, earned him a Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this month. The recognition, organised by The Scotsman, is among the most coveted at the world's largest arts festival. For Shehada the prize validates more than craft. 'The show tells a story that has always mattered, and never more so,' he tells The National from Edinburgh, where he continues performing nightly until the festival ends on August 25. 'As the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank continues, and the occupation of Palestine persists, we must keep amplifying Palestinian voices, preserving culture and advocating for justice, freedom and an end to the violence.' The play centres on a horse sculpture that stood in Jenin. Built in 2003 from debris left after an Israeli military incursion, the statue became a local landmark. In 2023, Israeli forces destroyed it with a bulldozer. Shehada, now based in Amsterdam, recalls feeling an urgent need to respond. 'What is it that makes the army fear a statue?' he says. 'What is that thing that this statue brings that let them take it and just remove it? And it disappeared in a second from our lives.' The destruction forced him to consider 'what a statue can do and what a symbol of resistance, resilience can do.' Those questions became the foundation for a 70-minute performance that weaves together childhood memories, family stories and moments of absurdity that punctuate life under occupation. 'It's about what is on our skin,' Shehada says. 'It's all about the story, about how hard the daily life is here, and funny sometimes, and confusing. So it has everything in one day.' During the writing process, Shehada stuck scenes across his bedroom wall and unearthed memories he hadn't planned to include. One was his English teacher Samir, who acquired Jenin's first mobile phone when Shehada was six. 'It's so big, we called it the fridge,' he recalled. 'Samir is so impressed, showing it off wherever he goes. Everywhere he goes, he speaks English because he wants every Palestinian to speak English.' The memory expanded to include the antenna, Samir parading the phone around town. 'These details allow the show to live, to really beat,' Shehada said. The Horse of Jenin shifts between such moments and deeper loss without warning. Audiences laugh at Samir's phone theatrics, then sit quietly as Shehada describes meeting his girlfriend 'secretly under the horse's legs, the statue of the horse' or the death of his childhood friend Ahmed. 'That's what makes it special to those not familiar with daily life of Palestinians,' he says. 'It makes you experience everything in terms of emotions. You're laughing; and then you're sad and depressed; and then you're confused and not understanding; and then you're educated; and then you're shocked; and then you're laughing so hard; and then you have tears.' Beyond theatre, Shehada cofounded the Palestinian Comedy Club in 2019, splitting operations between London and Jenin. The collective runs workshops in the West Bank and tours internationally. This month, five comedians are performing in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle. 'Comedy has many ways of reaching people,' Shehada says. 'First, it breaks the stereotypes about Palestinians because international comedy has one stereotype about how Palestinians look and act. You see us, you watch us all over the media – it's like checkpoints, fighting, and you don't see how a love story grows in Palestine. 'You don't see how a teacher, an English teacher, teaches his kids in a little school in Jenin. You don't see how the conversation happens in my family about me gaining more kilograms. You don't see the messages that we give to our lovers.' Shehada's own circumstances reflect the displacement that shapes Palestinian experience. Though born in Jenin, he has spent the past 15 years working between the Netherlands, UK, US and Australia, recently settling more permanently in Amsterdam. When asked about home, he paused. 'There is no home,' he said. 'I live in Jenin, I'm from Jenin, the West Bank, and I was there all the time, but I have moved over the past two years to Amsterdam.' With The Horse of Jennin to be performed in Europe, North America and Australia next year, Shehada's life as a touring artist compounds the complexity. 'That's why, when you ask me about what's home, it's really difficult to say what's home,' he says. "Even if I'm sitting down, I stay two or three months and then go to the UK. Then I go to Jenin and then somewhere else.' The work also represents a broader Palestinian response to loss that extends beyond art. 'This is something to do with the Palestinian mentality: if you lose your friend, you have to live, you have to keep moving,' he says. 'If you go from Jenin to Nablus and there's a checkpoint, you don't go back. You go to the mountain, find another way to go to Nablus.' While that survival instinct can drive creative expression, Shehada is clear about its source. 'It's coming from a painful place from all of us," he says. "It's a way to stay alive under an occupation. It's something that pushes you to stay alive, otherwise you're smashed. You are full of sadness and depression and hopelessness because of the situation. 'Ultimately, what we want to do – like everyone in this world – is to live. That is our only demand. We want to end occupation and have a normal life.'
The National
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Palestinian artists Alaa Shehada and Sami Abu Wardeh win awards at Edinburgh Fringe
Stories of Palestinian resistance and life under Israeli military occupation have won awards at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Palestinian artists Alaa Shehada and Sami Abu Wardeh were among the winners recognised for their solo productions at one of the world's largest arts festivals. Actor and writer Shehada won the Fringe First award, organised by Scottish newspaper The Scotsman, for his solo show The Horse of Jenin. Comedian Abu Wardeh received the Heart Award for Palestine: Peace de Resistance as part of the Besties – awards run by Scottish arts publications and theatre partners. Both shows are being staged at the Pleasance Dome, with the festival to end on August 25. In The Horse of Jenin, Shehada traces the story of a horse sculpture once found in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The structure, built in 2003 using wreckage from an Israeli attack a year earlier, was a symbol of resistance for Palestinians, before Israeli forces used a bulldozer to remove it in 2023. Throughout the 70-minute set, Shehada weaves in personal stories, humour and tragedy to reflect on what became of the remains of the horse and the loss of his childhood friend Ahmed in the West Bank. In its review, The Scotsman praised Shehada's exuberant performance while hailing the show as 'a terrific tale of Palestinian life, laughter and tragedy under unimaginable pressure". Shehada welcomed the award on Instagram, saying the show's theme has never been more urgent. 'The show tells a story that has always mattered, and never more so," he said. "As the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank continues, and the occupation of Palestine persists, we must keep amplifying Palestinian voices, preserving culture and advocating for justice, freedom and an end to the violence." The critical acclaim, bolstered by the award, has led to additional performances being scheduled during the festival, including extra shows on August 22 and 23. Irish-Palestinian comedian Sami Abu Wardeh also received an accolade for Palestine: Peace de Resistance, a stand-up show weaving character sketches and physical theatre as it examines whether comedy is a viable form of resistance. Inspired by his life as a Palestinian born in exile, the show merges barbed political satire with absurdist elements such as hand puppetry and outlandish caricatures. In awarding the Heart Award at the Besties, Louis Cammell, deputy editor of Fest magazine, which co-runs the award, described the show as 'passionate, epic and very funny". Abu Wardeh took to social media to announce his victory: 'Winner! Bestie Award for Heart. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.' The Edinburgh Festival Fringe traditionally takes place every August across the Scottish capital and features more than 3,000 productions.
Scotsman
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Fringe Firsts: six more winners of the Scotsman's prestigious theatre awards
Mark Thomas in Ordinary Decent Criminal | Contributed Our prizes for new writing premiered at the Fringe are announced each Friday during August - today we're delighted to reveal our second week of winners. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Over the past two weeks the Scotsman's team of experienced professional critics have reviewed hundreds of Edinburgh Fringe shows - considerably more than any other newspaper, and more than most publications of any kind that cover the world's biggest festival. It is this comprehensive level of Fringe coverage that makes it possible for us to continue running the oldest and most prestigious theatre awards at the festival - the Scotsman's Fringe Firsts. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Fringe Firsts were established in 1973 to encourage more people to premiere new theatre writing at the Edinburgh Fringe. Since then they have helped to launch countless stage and screen careers and are recognised across the world as the most important theatre award at the festival. This year the awards are sponsored by Queen Margaret University Edinburgh and Stagecoach, and we are very grateful to them for supporting us to continue seeing hundreds of eligible shows premiering across the Fringe's many venues. We are also very grateful to the Pleasance for hosting our three weekly award ceremonies - the third of which, on Friday 22 August, is a public event at the Pleasance Grand with special guest presenter Miriam Margolyes, when you can also find out the winners of other prizes presented by the Brighton Fringe, the Adelaide Fringe, the Mental Health Foundation and more. HOW IT WORKS The Fringe Firsts recognise outstanding new writing premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe. Shows in the theatre, dance & physical theatre, and musicals & opera sections are eligible, and winners are announced on each Friday of the Fringe. There is no set number of winners each week. Shows are privately nominated by The Scotsman's team of critics, and winners are then decided on by a judging panel consisting of, this year, our chief theatre critic Joyce McMillan (as chair) plus writers Susan Mansfield, Mark Fisher, Jackie McGlone, Sally Stott, David Pollock, Fiona Shepherd and Fergus Morgan. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This week we are delighted to announce six more Fringe First winners. Alaa Shehada in The Horse of Jenin | Contributed The Horse of Jenin Pleasance Dome, 2.20pm, until 25 August What we said: 'In 70 minutes of theatre, storytelling and wild, hilarious comedy, Alaa Shehada confronts the current crisis in theIsrael-Palestine conflict not directly, but through the story of his youth and childhood in the West Bank city of Jenin, home to generations of displaced Palestinians. At the centre of that story is the image of the Horse of Jenin, a fifteen-foot sculpture created out of war debris in 2003, after a previous Israeli Defence Force incursion into the West Bank. The Horse of Jenin is a terrific tale of Palestinian life, laughter and tragedy under unimaginable pressure, and of human lives given a moment of shape and meaning by a fine piece of art. The sheer exuberance of Shehada's performance is a joy to behold, drawing the audience into the spirit of the show within seconds.' Lost Lear follows the world of Joy, a woman with dementia, who is being cared for through a method where people live inside an old memory. | Traverse Lost Lear Traverse Theatre, various times, until 24 August What we said: 'A wonderfully unexpected experience for the viewer... Suffice it to say that Shakespeare's theme of a feted, arrogant parent in conflict with a child who must tell them who they are and what they've done is brought hauntingly up to date... When Lear inevitably begs forgetting and forgiveness for being 'old and foolish,' all that's gone before lends those words striking new power.' Inspired by playwright Gabriel Jason Dean's relationship with his own brother, a currently-incarcerated high-level member of the alt-right, RIFT is a story of estrangement, ideological divide, and the fight to change the world. The UK premiere is directed by Ari Laura Kreith and is presented by Luna Stage & Richard Jordan Productions. | Traverse RIFT Traverse Theatre, various times, until 24 August What we said: 'Based on Gabriel Jason Dean's real-life experience with a brother in the US prison system, Rift shows a relationship riddled with lies, half-truths, and sudden jagged shocks that can set it back by years, starting with the outside brother's early failure to acknowledge the sexual abuse they both experienced as children. Yet although the wealth of themes and preoccupations that emerge can be almost bewildering - ranging from the social causes of rising white supremacism, through the lifelong impact of child sexual abuse, to the morality of seeking to make art out of real-life stories that involve the privacy of others - Dean's writing never flags in its utterly gripping sharpness and intensity.' Mark Thomas in Ordinary Decent Criminal | Contributed Ordinary Decent Criminal Summerhall, various times, until 25 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What we said: 'The great British comedian and storyteller Mark Thomas is a past master at combining comedy with serious and violent subject matter; and in his new solo show Ordinary Decent Criminal - written, like last year's England And Son, by playwright Ed Edwards - he confronts the complexities of life in a northern English prison in the 1990s, as all the cross-currents of a troubled society wash up in the criminal justice system... It offers a strikingly vivid portrait of the UK as it was around the turn of the millennium, as seen from its dark and revealing underbelly; a portrait powerful both in itself, and in the extent to which it captures the forces that still shape our society today, for better and for worse.' Contributed NIUSIA Summerhall, 1.20pm, until 25 August What we said: 'Australian writer and performer Beth Paterson's story revolves around her Jewish grandmother Niusia, whom she only knows, in her teens and childhood, as a bad-tempered and permanently angry old lady given to spiteful comments about her own offspring. Niusia loves Beth's singing voice, though, when she sings romantic numbers from the mid 20th century, or old Jewish songs; and Beth gradually begins to understand that her grandmother is a holocaust survivor, a woman from the Warsaw ghetto who worked at the notorious hospital in Auschwitz under Josef Mengele, and who somehow survived to begin a new life in Australia, as a formidable businesswoman, mother and grandmother. By the end she seems almost to blaze with pride in her inheritance, as part of this line of mighty female survivors.' Mimi Martin in Youth in Flames | Contributed Youth in Flames Zoo Playground, 7pm, until 24 August
Scotsman
11-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: The Horse of Jenin Ordinary Decent Criminal
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Horse of Jenin Pleasance Dome (Venue 23) until 25 August ★★★★★ Ordinary Decent Criminal Summerhall (Venue 26) until 25 August ★★★★☆ Consumed Traverse Theatre (Venue 15) until 24 August ★★★☆☆ WAR, CONFLICT, and the violence that often simmers beneath the surface, even in the most outwardly peaceful societies. There are dozens of shows on these themes on the 2025 Fringe, some brilliant, others struggling to find the right tone for a play about the worst that human beings can do to one another. One show that hits exactly the right balance of life-enhancing comedy and utter tragedy, though, is Alaa Shehada's The Horse of Jenin, produced by Troupe Courage for the Pleasance and the Palestine Comedy Club. In 70 minutes of theatre, storytelling and wild, hilarious comedy, he confronts the current crisis in the Israel-Palestine conflict not directly, but through the story of his youth and childhood in the West Bank city of Jenin, home to generations of displaced Palestinians. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Alaa Shehada in The Horse of Jenin | Contributed At the centre of that story is the image of the Horse of Jenin, a 15-foot sculpture created out of war debris in 2003, after a previous Israeli Defence Force (IDF) incursion into the West Bank. Designed by German artist Thomas Kilpper, and assembled with a team of Palestinian teenagers, the horse reflected both the conflict and the Arabic tradition of the horse as a symbol of freedom. It eventually took its place at the centre of as mayor Jenin traffic roundabout, until it was bulldozed and removed by the IDF in 2023. For Shehada, born in Jenin in the early 1990s, the horse was therefore a vital part of his boyhood; and his aim in this show is somehow to rebuild it, with the support of the audience, out of fragments of memory and feeling that can be passed on, even when people and cities are destroyed. The sheer exuberance of Shehada's performance is a joy to behold, drawing the audience into the spirit of the show within seconds. All wide-eyed wonder at the crazy beauty of the world despite all the pain it can inflict, and full of hilarious thumbnail sketches of his family and friends, the Horse of Jenin is a terrific tale of Palestinian life, laughter and tragedy under unimaginable pressure, and of human lives given a moment of shape and meaning by a fine piece of art. It deserves to be celebrated as one of the key contributions to this year's Fringe, bringing life, humanity and even joy to a story shaped by one of the grimmest conflicts of our time. The great British comedian and storyteller Mark Thomas is a past master at combining comedy with serious and violent subject matter; and in his new solo show Ordinary Decent Criminal – written, like last year's England And Son, by playwright Ed Edwards – he confronts the complexities of life in a northern English prison in the 1990s, as all the cross-currents of a troubled society wash up in the criminal justice system. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mark Thomas in Ordinary Decent Criminal | Contributed The shaping forces in the prison are the legacy of the Northern Irish troubles on one hand – there is one particularly terrifying character known as Belfast Tony – and the pervasive drug culture on the other. Our hero and narrator Frankie is inside for importing and dealing drugs, although he has been clean for some years, and dreams of becoming a writer. His survival in prison involves some spectacular ducking and diving, and a few strokes of pure luck, as all around him hard men fight for dominance and control, exploiting and abusing the weak. Frankie's backstory, though, involves something else; a history in left-wing student politics, including support for the republican cause in Ireland, that comes crashing down on the night in 1989 when the Berlin Wall falls. Frankie cannot join in the general celebration, seeing the collapse of communism as a disaster opening the way to fascism, and sinking into depression and addiction, reinforced by a relationship with beautiful heroin addict Josie. But in prison, his forgotten political activism proves to have its uses, as he navigates the tangled web of influence around Belfast Tony. Thomas's evocation of this whole complex scenario, and of all the characters involved, is typically brilliant. And it offers a strikingly vivid portrait of the UK as it was around the turn of the millennium, as seen from its dark and revealing underbelly; a portrait powerful both in itself, and in the extent to which it captures the forces that still shape our society today, for better and for worse. At the Traverse, Karis Kelly's Consumed assembles all the right elements for a cutting-edge play about the legacy of conflict – extreme comedy, sudden violence, a lurch into surrealism – but somehow, in Katie Posner's production, fails to make them cohere into a convincing story about Northern Ireland today, in the long backwash of conflict. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Make sure you keep up to date with Arts and Culture news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. Co-produced by the Traverse, Paines Plough, and a consortium of major English theatres, the play begins as four female generations of a Northern Irish Protestant family gather to celebrate the 90th birthday of great grandmother Eileen, brilliantly played by Julia Dearden. The other attendees are her downtrodden daughter Gilly (a hoarding housewife with OCD), her raging granddaughter Jenny, now living and working in London, and Jenny's teenage daughter Muireann, a London kid stuck with an Irish name. Menfolk are strangely absent, for reasons that become more sensationally or chillingly obvious as the 90-minute play unfolds. There's a final plunge from hard-hitting family comedy into shambolic rage and then dark, surreal tragedy, as great grandmother and great granddaughter scrabble together in the black earth for the bones of a buried past; but the bold shifts in mood are too sudden and capricious to convince, leaving behind a sense of confusion, and of a huge opportunity missed.
