‘To be creative is to exist’: rejecting resilience, enacting Sumud in the cultural resistance of ASHTAR theatre

ABSTRACT

This article problematises the concept of ‘resilience’, and the globalised power dynamics which lie behind a narrative of overcoming adversity in the context of Palestinian Theatre. By exploring the work of ASHTAR, specifically focusing on the artist Iman Aoun, this paper examines the lack of political and practical solidarity revealed in languages and agendas of resilience. This analysis of practice is set within a theoretical framework of border navigation, space and place, and of modes of resistance where the Palestinian concept of sumud is foregrounded as an indigenous lens to view the infrapolitical resistance of the West Bank arts community.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied theatre
• Palestine
• conflict theatre
• resilience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 In this article, I follow the company’s own naming protocol, with ASHTAR written as fully capitalised, apart from when I quote other authors.

2 For more information please see www.theatreconflictchange.com and www.projectariadne.com.

3 Palestinian Performing Arts Network – http://www.ppan.ps.

4 Whilst the Occupied Palestinian Territories is a term used by the UN, the EU and the ICC, I largely use the term Palestinian Territories. I acknowledge that academics using OPT in their research is an act of solidarity, but this article tries to reflect the terminology used by the artists I met and worked with.

5 Footage of the ‘silent walk’ led by Dijana Milosevic of Dah Teater, and the subsequent creative response is available in the films of the www.theatreconflictchange portal, a documentation of the AHRC GCRF funded project ‘Tales of Winter and Spring’.

6 Al Hakawati (The Storyteller) came into existence in 1977 as the first professional Palestinian theatre under Israeli military occupation, the theatre remains active, but significantly altered, under its current name, the Palestinian National Theatre.

7 I am deliberately reflecting Aoun’s use of terminology here. This communicates her political stance that any Israeli settlement in the region is an expression of participation in a ‘illegal project’ and therefore, in common with a number of artists I spoke with in the region, she purposefully does not always make a distinction between the actions of the Israeli government and the inhabitants of Israel.

8 The Facebook comments to the BBC report are overwhelmingly in support of the academic who halted the performance. Many news clips and resulting comments can be found on ASHTAR’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ashtartheatre/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council (Global Challenges).

Notes on contributors

Annecy Lax

Annecy Lax is a Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies, University of Essex, and Associate Artist at ice&fire theatre. She is currently authoring a book on a recent AHRC GCRF project on networks of female theatre-makers in conflict and post-conflict zones. She continues to research in applied theatre and performing testimony.