The horse of Jenin Alaa Shehada / Troupe Courage

International actors collective Troupe Courage makes theatre about the ingenuity of people in their struggle to survive. Since October 2023, the life of Troupe Courage player Alaa Shehada (Jenin, Palestine) has been completely turned upside down. Alaa is now in the Netherlands and it is more urgent than ever that he tells his survival story. The performance is an ode to the power of imagination and the value of playing in freedom. It is at the same time physical folk theatre of the highest level, a personal story about life in Palestine and a celebration of the imagination. This performance can be seen in Theatre Bellevue and is in English.

The horse of Jenin Alaa Shehada / Troupe Courage

Location

Theater Bellevue

Leidsekade 90

1017 PN Amsterdam

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"My imagination became the freedom in my life" - Alaa Shehada

In April 2002, Jenin was invaded. In the aftermath, a German artist came to give an art workshop. After four weeks, with the help of 15 Palestinians, he unveiled the result. From the rubble and debris, a horse had risen, 5 meters tall! The horse is an Arab symbol of freedom, but this horse was also a symbol of peaceful resistance. It was a symbol of resilience. Last November 2023, an Israeli bulldozer entered the camp and took the horse away.

In this solo, Alaa asks himself: what happened to the horse? Was it arrested? Did it go to court? Could it defend itself? Did they put it in jail? Was the horse interrogated? And did it then tell about the day Alaa tried to ride the horse with his best friend Ahmed? With this solo, Alaa builds a new horse, constructed from the fragments of his memories, supplemented with a huge dose of humor and imagination. A theatrical symbol of resistance and imagination.