3/07/2009
No cola, no paper, no future, and no life
Tonight I went to a benefit evening for Gaza, in Amsterdam, organised by among others the Polder Mosque. Marloes Kuijer - from board of the Polder Mosque - told about her journeys to Palestina and about the VCCA Center. There was also an exhibition with paintings made by artists from the VCCA Center (see the painting on the left). Then Mohammed Rabbae held a good speech about Middle-East politics and Dutch governmental hypocrisy. After some live music, I saw the film "The Game" about a performance of the Theatre Day Productions in Gaza (see the website in Dutch or Arabic).
"Plan A - The Game" is an absurdist comedy, based on the situation of continuing shortages in Gaza. Because Israel controls the borders, it is never sure which items are available and what not. The lives of four friends in "Plan A - The Game" are fully taken up by things that are not there: cola, a razor blade, toilet paper. They make the wildest plans for the stuff they need to get. In their planning, the hard reality seems almost a game. Because their imagination knows no boundaries.
They want to go to the Netherlands to perform there, but they are not allowed to leave the country. Then they switch to Plan B, and decide that the tour in Europe will be done with young actors from Westbank, who are allowed to leave the country. One of the actors from the Westbank says in the film that he didn't realise that there's so much lack of everything in Gaza. It touched me when he said: "There's no cola there, no paper, no future and no life."
Below are some short films about the actors (from Gaza) of the play.
"Plan A - The Game" is an absurdist comedy, based on the situation of continuing shortages in Gaza. Because Israel controls the borders, it is never sure which items are available and what not. The lives of four friends in "Plan A - The Game" are fully taken up by things that are not there: cola, a razor blade, toilet paper. They make the wildest plans for the stuff they need to get. In their planning, the hard reality seems almost a game. Because their imagination knows no boundaries.
They want to go to the Netherlands to perform there, but they are not allowed to leave the country. Then they switch to Plan B, and decide that the tour in Europe will be done with young actors from Westbank, who are allowed to leave the country. One of the actors from the Westbank says in the film that he didn't realise that there's so much lack of everything in Gaza. It touched me when he said: "There's no cola there, no paper, no future and no life."
Below are some short films about the actors (from Gaza) of the play.
