A Palestinian tale - straight from the horse’s mouth
Daniel Nelson
You want something to laugh about? Try Palestine.
Alaa Shehada’s one-man show at the Bush Theatre milks his life-story for laughs, from his birth in Jenin, through his schooling and teacher Samir’s huge mobile phone, his best friend, his first cigarette and first date (stymied at an Israeli checkpoint), his lightning-bolt discovery of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp, of being berated by his mother while rehearsing for a Harold Pinter role in the family bathroom.
But his story is set in Palestine, so it also covers pre-teen Intifada stone-throwing and, inevitably, a personal tragedy at the hands of Israeli soldiers.
Shehada is a burly, exuberant presence who clearly loves performing, whether clowning, transforming into a grandfather or middle-aged woman, or engaging with the audience. He dodges show-off vanity by an ability to switch to self-deprecation. He has virtually no props, other than a selection of masks.
The show’s title, The Horse of Jenin, comes from the creation by a visiting German artist of a larger-than-life animal made from the detritus of homes and vehicles destroyed by Israeli soldiers, including the door of an ambulance in which a well-known local doctor was killed while rushing to the scene of an explosion.
The statue becomes a symbol of resistance, and it becomes the centre-piece of Shehada’s high octane stand-up as he tells tales of happenings under it, on it and around it before its destruction by the Israelis in 2023.
His tale is full of warmth and touching human details as well as humour, drama and sadness.
It’s an entertaining, moving slice of Palestinian life.
* The Horse of Jenin, £10 - £35, Bush Theatre, Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 20 December + 14 - 22 January. Info: Bush
21 December 2025, Fundraising Comedy Night, with Nish Kumar, Alaa Shehada, and Sami Abu Wardeh, 6pm
17 January 2026, film screening, The Palestine Comedy Club, 4.30 pm