Final curtain looms for historic Palestinian theatre
Al Jazeera
The future of the Palestinian National Theatre is fraught with uncertainty as the organisation struggles with declining audiences and high operating costs.
Located in the American Colony neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, the theatre – also known as el-Hakawati, meaning “storyteller” – has amassed a debt of more than $150,000, according to director Amer Khalil. Earlier this month, supporters and a crowd-funding campaign helped to raise $14,000, providing Hakawati with a stay of execution after an insurance company sued the theatre over unpaid bills.
But as Palestinian cultural life has shifted to Ramallah amid increasingly draconian restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank, it is not clear how much longer Hakawati will be able to stay afloat.
“Running a Palestinian cultural centre in Jerusalem is really difficult,” Khalil told Al Jazeera. “Here with the Israeli government and municipality, we pay taxes but we don’t want their funding. We are in East Jerusalem; this is the Palestinian National Theatre. We don’t agree with the government and their policies. They are occupation for us.”
Founded in 1977 by six actors, the Hakawati Theatre Company toured major Israeli cities and Palestinian villages throughout the 1980s, becoming the first internationally recognised Palestinian theatre company. Rehearsals initially took place in schools and churches, until 1983, when the company took over and renovated a burned-down former porn theatre. Hakawati changed its name to the Palestinian National Theatre in 1990.
The 300-seat theatre, which derives its income from private donations, grants and ticket sales, runs an average of three shows a week [Ylenia Gostoli/Al Jazeera]
According to Khalil, who was among the theatre’s founders and returned to run it in 2011, bills have mounted for utilities, workers’ insurance and local property taxes due under Israeli law. The 300-seat theatre, which derives its income from private donations, grants and ticket sales, runs an average of three shows a week. It never reaches full capacity these days, Khalil said, and its revenues are not sufficient to cover its costs.
“Legally, since the Oslo Accords, we are not allowed to get support from the Palestinian Authority either,” Khalil said, referencing a part of the agreement that bars the Palestinian Authority (PA) from establishing any activities in Jerusalem. “Oslo somehow started to put an end to an unfinished dream.”
Hakawati has also struggled over the years because of its role as a cultural centre in the midst of the region’s long-running conflict.
At the opening of a play in Acre in 1987, Khalil recalled, a far-right Jewish group bought tickets to the show and then started a brawl with the actors once it began. The Story of Kufur Shamma, written by French-Palestinian François Abu Salem and Jackie Lubeck, a Brooklyn-born Jewish woman, was about a young man returning to a destroyed fictional village after 1948, and then wandering for 40 years in search of his relatives.
Source: www.aljazeera.com