EAST CALAIS – One of the primary and most beautiful functions of theater is to create empathy, to hold up a mirror to ourselves that reflects our common humanity. In a world of demagogic politicians trying to build their careers on fear and hatred, it is even more important to find what we share and avoid mutual demonization. The current play at the Unadilla Theatre in East Calais, “Returning to Haifa,” brilliantly does just that.
Dealing honestly with the long-standing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, the play gives dramatic poignancy to the story of a Palestinian couple coming back to Haifa after having been driven out 20 years previously in 1947, in which under the threat of death they lost not only their home and all their possessions, but their infant son in the chaos of extreme violence.
The psychological complexity of the situation becomes acute when they discover that the person now occupying their home is a Polish widow and survivor of the Holocaust whose father was killed in Auschwitz and who adopted their baby as an orphan son after she came to Israel in 1947.
This play, adapted by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi, was based on a book by the same name originally written by Ghassan Kamafani (1936-1992) in 1967. He was a prominent Palestinian author, journalist and political activist forced to flee to Lebanon with his family in 1948. Despite the fact that he chose to use the power of his pen over any kind of gun, he was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in Beirut in 1972 with a car bomb.
Zephyr Teachout as director has put together a superlative cast of very talented professional actors and actresses for this production. Umer Farooq has the role of Said and Ayeshah Alam Khan portrays Safiyyah, together playing the older Palestinian couple returning to Haifa in 1967, while Nate Krimmel and Safiya Jlamali are cast as the same couple when they were younger in 1947. Faith Caitlin is the Polish widow, Miriam, living in the house, and Krimmel doubles as Dov, the adopted son.
In two acts without an intermission, Returning to Haifa has a compelling momentum of tension and release as each character unfolds, and the alternating juxtaposition of past and present time of the young and old versions of the couple make for intriguing effects in the rhythms of this drama. All the players are skillfully in character and communicate the often contradictory emotions they are feeling. Between deep and justified anger and overwhelming sadness, we can experience their mutual suffering and thus recognize some hope for a better future without endless revenge.
At the end of the play Zephyr Teachout lead a discussion of reactions and questions from the audience, which covered a range of issues, but one of the reoccurring themes was how could this unresolved conflict and chronic violence keep going on for so many years? This play gives a voice to Palestinians, which has too often been suppressed, and it rises through compassion to have universal resonance. The actors and actresses gave interesting stories of how they were recruited for this performance, and how they developed the ability for “intensely pretending” to make their roles believable. They valued he opportunity to participate in something creative toether, that however uncomfortable the subject, the hard conversations it engenders are deeply relevant to our contemporary world, especially to end the delusion that violence will ever result in happiness for anyone.
Others responsible for this production were Lori Stratton as stage manager, Alana Phinney as choreographer, Beth Damon as costumer and Jeff Casey as dramaturgest.
This weekend will be the last chance to see this very powerful and engaging play, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. For reservations, call (802) 456-8968 or go online at [email protected].
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
