An angry response to The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide)
Photo: © Alex Bremmer, The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide in the Media)
Daniel Nelson
You know from the title where the production stands on the Palestine-Israel crisis: The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide in the Media).
And to make it doubly clear, within a couple of minutes there’s a declaration: “This is genocide.”
What you might not be prepared for — though you really shouldn’t be surprised, given that the Bezna Theatre collective is dedicated to “uncompromising, political, form-challenging work`” — is how forceful the presentation is. No, let’s not mince words: not forceful: angry.
Angry because of the disproportionality and nature of the Israeli response to the October 2023 Hamas attack, and the pro-Israeli bias of much UK coverage
The piece starts lightly but rapidly fires up into a series of scenes of unequal quality about events in Gaza at specific times on specific days that are highlighted by text, that includes the rising death toll, at the back of the stage. There’s not always enough time to read the words.
Each scene, each report is part of an appalling, shocking panorama, a few of which stand out for sheer impact, such as the acting out of the massacre that accompanied an Israeli raid to rescue hostages. The show says the Palestine side of the story was not told, and proceeds to tell it in graphic detail.
Passion and outrage, plus creative staging, mark the production (“a wildly theatrical interrogation of the widening gulf between what we're told, what we witness, and what we choose to believe”), before an anonymous Palestinian account is read out culminating in the hurled epithet, “vile pig”. It’s a shocking moment, which inevitably will spark controversy and might become the moment for which the production is remembered.
The writers recognise the gravity and drama of the moment by launching into a commentary on the use of the offensive term, which will be taken by many Jews as proof of the production’s antisemitism. Intelligent, liberal, non-racist north Londoners will squirm in their seats at the use of the phrase and the ensuing justification. Should the insult be used on stage even as an example of red-hot frustration and rage? The dilemma will divide audiences. For what it’s worth, my view is that it’s a brave attempt to illustrate unpleasant truths by people under stress.
Other awkward questions are raised, including the perceived prejudice of the state-owned BBC and whether the time and space given to Israeli reactions to the original gruesome Hamas attack should be matched by accounts of the previous decades of Palestinian history.
The performance ended quietly,and the audience took a moment to realise that it was over and to absorb what they had seen, before filing out in sombre silence.
* The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide in the Media), BÉZNĂ Theatre’s multimedia investigation into the relationship between mainstream media, public opinion and state crime, £13 - £19, New Diorama Theatre, 15 - 16 Triton Street, Regent's Place, NW1 3BF, untll 10 October. Info: New Diorama
+ 28 Sept, Shadow World Investigations workshop, 6-8pm; 1 Oct, post-show Q&A: Media Ethics, Mike Berry; 2 Oct, International State Crime Initiative workshop, 4-6pm; 5 Oct, Shadow World Investigations community workshop, 6-8pm; 6 Oct, Producing Political Theatre workshop, 4-6pm; 9 Oct, International State Crime Initiative, workshop, 4-6pm
The cast of four are Maryam Abu Khaled, Luca Kamleh Chapman, Sara Masry Sofia. The piece was developed with the International State Crime Initiative and Shadow World Investigations with research support from Jack Cinamon. Informed by interviews with Aseel, Ghazal, Hussein Naneem, Ibraheem, Khaled, Mady, Mohammed Mahoud, Noor Al Sakka, Noor Al Swairky, Razan Younes, Salem Rayyes, and those who wish to remain anonymous.