XIX - The Big Elephant in the International Room
Back from a thought-provoking playback theatre camp shared with Israeli playbackers, dealing with heavy politics, raw emotions and challenging biases.
Greetings, dear readers. Ten days, four workshops taught, a performance performed, many laughs, and some tears later… I find myself back home, in London, marinating many thoughts and processing many feelings. The International Playback Theatre Camp left many topics that I want to discuss. This week I’m going to discuss the biggest one, the experience of being there, sharing space with Israeli playbackers. Lean back, grab a snack. It’s going to be long.
⚠️ Of course, DISCLAIMER. Going full political here. Feel free to skip it if you’re not comfortable with the topic and/or you are one of the ones lucky enough to be able to live a carefree life avoiding politics.
I write this as an individual, not as an International Playback Theatre Network board member. This is me, Ferran, vomiting over the screen what’s on my head and my heart at the moment after this subjective experience. At the same time I feel anxious because I got the feeling it won’t land well on any side. I’m not here to justify nor vilify. I will not use names of the Israeli (or any) participants because I want to take their stance as a whole. With nuances, it was practically the same.
My relationship with the Israeli Playback Theatre community went from non-existent to standoffish due to my role as secretary of the IPTN. The social justice manifesto for our 2023 conference in South Africa caused turmoil, and we faced boycott calls, insults, and hostile direct messages from the Israeli and Zionist communities. In response, I became even more outspoken about the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. I also engaged in several heated Facebook discussions with other playbackers, especially after the IPTN released its public statement denouncing the events in Gaza.
Early this year, I had an online meeting with Olga Sanachina, inviting me to teach at the International Playback Theatre camp. Following conversations that we had before, she told me that no Israeli will be put on a training position. They were offering those roles to people from other cultures. I had many thoughts. On one hand, I wanted to go, because I’ve never been before. On the other hand, I was fully aware of the potential presence of participants from Israel and the ripples that its presence might have. I stated that I was going to be, putting it mildly, quite assertive to those participants. The offer stood. I accepted.
Months later, I was in Georgia, sleep deprived from a long trip, and surrounded by old and new faces. I was cordial to everyone, saving any stinky eye. The discussion began on the first official day of camp, during the homegroup session. Since the topic of the camp was “The elephant in the room”, everyone was making bold statements. An Israeli shared “I feel like I’m living with an Scarlett letter because of my nationality”. On my turn, I didn’t hold back. “I have a prejudice against Israelis, because I don’t know what kind of Israeli you are”, I said. And I meant it. Whenever I encounter one, I don’t know if I’m in front of one of the likes of the historian Ilan Pappé, the recently awarded filmmaker Yuval Abraham, or the brave young people publicly burning their calls to join the IDF. On the contrary, I could be in front of one of the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir or Daniella Weiss and her minions. The Israelis in the room shared his gratitude for my honesty and opened themselves for further conversation.
That was the initial chance I had to tackle the topic with Israeli participants. Many more came, and the first ones were more emotional and heated. We found common ground, though: Benjamin Netanyahu is a manipulator that must leave and face prosecution, some mention they could shoot him if they had the chance. The settlers, led by Daniella Weiss, are a bunch of dangerous lunatics. What’s happening in Gaza is terrible and any form of ethnic cleansing should stop. I reiterate, those statements are from the Israeli delegation.
So, there was some agreement and shared wishes.Yay!.. But my disappointment came when I learnt they aren’t quite keen on adopting the terminology used by countless humanitarian and international organisations to describe the events in Gaza. Which made me think that the Israeli government tightly controls the information coming from outside the borders. At some point I mentioned the case workers from World’s Kitchen, the destroying of food at the settler blockade, and the execution of the health workers buried in a mass grave. They looked at me as if I was delivering fresh news. Maybe Israeli media has a lot to do with the shaping of the Israeli view. I was also told, from a very small part of their delegation, that I ate the blue pill from the Matrix and believed whatever the international media said.
Of course, I listened to them talking about the Hamas attack on the Nova festival on the 7th of October of 2023. I heard about the work they do with the survivors to process their trauma. And I agree that the horrifying damage caused never should’ve happened. They appreciated it and told me their heart sinks when they see some people celebrating it. Rightfully so.
Narrowing it down to the Playback Community, we talked about it, I even brought up their privilege of being able to attend any playback event in the world. I also asked about their silence, something the rest of the international peers request to be broken. I can still hear the sigh. They do what they can, on a personal level, to state that they don’t represent the actions of their government. I sincerely could feel their sadness talking about lost friendships within our community.
To be honest, I don’t think we will see a statement from the Israeli playback community, which is huge, due its own internal disagreements as well. They went from anger, to grief, to numbness, and now that they are under international scrutiny more than ever, they see the result of Bibi’s hijacking of their identity to commit atrocities. Time will tell how they choose to engage with the rest of the international community. But I feel like we’ll need a resolution, amendments and a few trials at The Hague before that.
I’ve been talking a lot about my perception of them, I also want to talk about their perception of me. They knew who I was. They knew what my stance was (and is). I could sense them walking on eggshells around me. Any encounter could’ve felt like a duel at noon by the town’s saloon. But, from them I got very humble approaches and respect, not only for my practice, but for my will to speak. I felt very bad about myself when I saw the struggle of one of them trying to find the words to tell me that they’d love to work with me more, but they didn’t know how I’d feel about it because of their nationality. That shouldn’t feel wrong. I ended up getting along well with them.
Curiously enough, my only negative (and hurtful) experience during camp came from a non-Israeli Zionist, for a quite rude reaction to my sharing of a story about the South African conference and the importance of prioritising voices that usually can’t attend international events. That person sincerely apologised later and I don’t wish them ill. If you ask me, non-Israeli Zionists (Jewish or not) are way more vicious with the topic than many Israelis, since they are the ones seeing Israel as the immaculate holy Disneyland, excluded from any form of criticism, and the spot for the magical second coming of Jesus Christ. They don’t live there, and they are not the ones dealing with the shit, interacting and even socialising with Arabs. And yes, I’m aware that many of the ones that might read this are holding on to the “many interpretations of the word Zionism” idea. I still only see one.
About the camp per se. It was during an intensive in Şirince, last year, when I started talking with Olga Sanachina and Nastya Vorobyeva about the state of the camp and the impact of many conversations about the presence of Israeli trainers. I could feel the exhaustion, struggle and sadness back then, as I felt during this camp. I’ve seen their tears. They are aware of their failures from the past and want to do better. Their goal is to provide a safe space while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere to everyone. Imagine the responsibility!
The work that Nastya, Olga and the rest of the organisation team do in the camp is far from easy, yet they do it anyway, rattling their brains trying to find the perfect formula, facing criticism and misleading accusations. They don’t deserve that. Stop doing that. I love them deeply, and If you mess with them I… I… I won’t kill you, because that’s not who I am, but I will furiously shake my index finger a centimetre from your face screaming “How dare you!” as long as it takes.
Now, is the International Playback Theatre Camp a safe space for Arab playbackers? I don’t want to fall into assumptions, nor saviourism. I’m not Arab myself after all, and I might miss on the full implications to them for sharing space with Israelis. I’ll just say that there were many people standing for them. Their back would’ve been covered. And maybe that’s what the camp needs, a safety net of allies strong enough to hold them and care for their needs and emotional wellbeing.
Shit, I’m conflicted now after this experience. Situations are simple. People are not. I’m aware that the hearts will lose the warmth of the human connection, and in a week or so we'll be back to the coldness of our ideals. Man, I hate this world.
As the camp finished I exchanged instagram with an Israeli. They said “Are you aware that you might see shit that you will not like?” I replied with the same question. We did it anyway.
My perspective has been widened, yet my stance remains the same.
Peace, and always Free Palestine.
📆 What is coming up
3rd to 7th of September - Robin Hood International Improv Festival (Nottingham, UK). I’m looking foward to go back to Robin Hood’s city to enjoy five days of improv. I’ll enjoying some workshops, the shows and I’ll be in a couple of acts. Information and tickets here.
12th of September - Acaprov (London, UK). Get your tickets for the upcoming Acaprov show, where we will do improv and maybe sing. 😛 Secure your sits.
✨ That’s all folks ✨
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Ferran Luengo