On July 20, Red Rattler Theatre will host Theatre & Music for a Free Palestine which consists of a group of students, support workers and activists, including Irish-Palestine Solidarity Australia, debuting a original play Three Promises to You. Created using verbatim testimonies, the UN’s three promises, and the renowned play My Name is Rachel Corrie, this play will be followed by performances from local bands Safety First, Harriet and Her Hags, Sonnet and the Breadboys, Beryl, Ant Gallery, and Euterpe.
Honi Soit spoke to organisers Anastasia Dale, Sid Darawshe, Charlotte Mac Sweeney, Alex Butler and Sean McLachlan to learn more about the creative process and why resistance through art is ever-so important at this point in time.
Honi Soit: Firstly, can you introduce yourselves to our readers?
Anastasia Dale: I’m a co-writer of Three Promises to You with these guys, and a student at SCA. I’ve always believed in the power of art and theatre to effect change, and to express the inexpressible. It’s important to me that organisations that help Palestinians in ‘Australia’ get support and donations from events put on here.
Sid Darawshe: I’m playing the character of ‘Rajul’. I just finished my undergraduate studies in political economy, and am keeping myself busy practising theatre. This event is important because the public recognition of Palestinian identity and culture is key to combating its erasure.
Charlotte Mac Sweeney: I’m a disability support worker who spends time within the Palestine movement, particularly within Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Australia as well as spending time at Little Palestine at Albos. I’m a queer woman who enjoys theatre, performing arts and teaches theatre to a cohort of people with intellectual disabilities and autism. I value my work and hope to see an uptick in resistance theatre that is inclusive of all in so-called Australia.
Alex Butler: I’m a USyd student doing a Bachelor of Arts. I’m an avid social activist and am thrilled to be a part of the writing team and to play Rachel in Three Promises to You. I hope that this play inspires people to resist.
Sean McLachlan: I’m a support worker and activist. I’ve been involved in organising for refugee rights, the Palestine solidarity movement and climate justice.
Honi Soit: How did this project begin? Did the cast and crew already know each other, or did everyone meet as a result of this collaboration?
Anastasia: Most of us were friends already, or met through activism or theatre. A few of us read a play together at the picket at Albanese’s office, and got the idea to create an original play for a fundraiser.
Honi Soit: Euterpe, Sonnet & The Breadboys, Safety First, Beryl, Harriet & Her Hags, and Ant Gallery are all playing music at the event. How did that come about?
Anastasia: They’re such awesome bands and I’d attended tons of their gigs before. They’re all friends or friends-of-friends, so I just reached out. They were all really keen, which I think just speaks to the strength of the pro-Palestine movement. What’s happening in Gaza right now has changed the way so many people view the world. Lots of people have reached out to get involved with volunteering, taking photos, or making food for the event. I’m so grateful and inspired by everyone who’s performing and helping out.
Honi Soit: Why was the Red Rattler Theatre selected as the location? Does it also say something about the Inner West’s affinity for artistic events and activism?
Anastasia: The Red Rattler was chosen after a few of us attended an amazing film screening there for Palestinian Prisoners Day hosted by BDS Youth, ACAR, and Blak Caucus. We’d all been to previous events at the Rat that affirmed its place as a venue that stands behind meaningful events, and they’re definitely an Inner West institution for combining creativity and activism.
Honi Soit: Palestinian stories and personal histories continue to be defined by the loss of a homeland, ongoing displacement and genocide. Why is art, theatre and music an important avenue amidst all the devastation that we see and hear through our screens?
Sid: It’s important to get some kind of emotional connection to the statistics and facts that we hear about. You get some kind of control over the narrative yourself through art and theatre. It’s a way to create solidarity between peoples, whether you’re Palestinian or not, it’s a way to understand each other. I would resist the idea of Palestinians being seen as victims. An oppressed people can always fight back, and through theatre we can offer our own perspective rather than just the spectator’s perspective. Our play exists as an act of resistance and political critique, and that can be a force for change and growing community.
Honi Soit: Palestinian-Irish solidarity is one of the more prominent and unbreakable bonds of two peoples. Can you talk about the role of Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Australia as a group, and how crucial its presence is in bringing together the community to advocate for Palestine?
Charlotte: The same colonial processes that saw Ireland occupied for 800 years, and saw our people experience the cultural genocide that make us one of the biggest diasporas, are the same processes occuring in occupied Palestine. In fact, we have key British figures such as Arthur Balfour in common as agents of occupation and oppression. The Palestinian people have always extended their solidarity to us, and given that the colonial process has made 30% of this country comprised of Irish people, activating this community could deliver serious blows to the complicit Australian government.
Honi Soit: How would you best describe what Three Promises to You is about in a sentence?
Charlotte: It’s about how you can’t trust your governing bodies and you have to take action yourself.
Sean: It’s about how useless the idea of international law is when states like Israel are allowed to act with impunity, from before Rachel Corrie’s death to the current genocide.
Alex: It sheds light on the historical injustices and everyday realities of Palestine.
Anastasia: The play speaks the truths our generation has known subliminally since childhood.
Sid: It is a sign that this generation has an anti-imperialist consciousness and are able to use it.
Honi Soit: How does it connect to the UN’s three promises?
Charlotte: The book we drew from was written in 1956 to explain the UN to children, and it promises to teach peace and Western ideals abroad. Including passages from the book makes it almost comically clear the contradictions within the UN’s processes and ethos. We expose the hypocrisy of the UN’s founding tenets while they were founding the imperialist state of Israel.
Honi Soit: How did you navigate the use of verbal testimonies in the writing process? And what was the creative process like with multiple writers?
Anastasia: The verbatim nature of the play adds another layer and texture to the whole piece – these are real stories, real people’s words.
Charlotte: Having multiple writers allowed us to do more research and pull from diverse sources, and to navigate it as a collective, experimental process.
Sid: We found ways to make the characters our own, to imagine the things not included in the testimonies, to imagine their entire lives. We recognise them as multifaceted people, without sanitising them or their politics. It’s been important to not portray our two main characters as merely naïve victims. They know the world they live in. That’s what we are trying to encourage, a broader consciousness of the world we live in.
Honi Soit: Rachel Corrie has become an instantaneously recognisable figure in the Palestinian solidarity movement, especially for those who did not know the extent of the realities of the Israeli occupation on the ground. Why was the play My Name is Rachel Corrie a focal point of inspiration for your play, given that the play has been staged various times, most notably by Alan Rickman in 2005?
Charlotte: My Name is Rachel Corrie was notably censored multiple times, particularly in New York where the production was delayed for 2 years. It has been performed in Hebrew in Israel during the Breaking the Silence movement. Rachel represents the sentiments of many young people in the West, a reaction to our powerlessness against the crimes of our governments. She teaches us that we can take action and question the systems around us.
Honi Soit: Why do you think Corrie’s story is so important to be revisited and what is unique to your interpretation?
Alex: Her story is crucial in understanding the murky history of the oppression in Palestine. It allows modern audiences to understand the people behind resistance efforts, both past and current. In playing the role of Rachel, it was important to allow for authenticity in her ethics and morals as well as approach the role with tenderness to honour her memory.
Anastasia: In re-interpreting this play, we incorporated text from The Drone Eats with Me (2015) by Atef Abu Saif, as well as more contemporary verbal accounts from Israeli and Palestinian sources. We contrast the motivations and life stories of Rachel and ‘Rajul’. The play shows the many faces of oppression and resistance, and places Rachel Corrie’s story within the context of what’s happened in Palestine after her death.
Honi Soit: Palestinians are no longer able to be students due to the scholasticide and destruction of educational institutions and basic life in Gaza. As many of you are students, what does it mean to be able to use your voice and education amidst political rhetoric that the pro-Palestine movement is disrupting the social cohesion of so-called Australia?
Sid: It’s unforgivable the amount of knowledge and history that has been wiped out of the world due to Israel, in a way this is the modern burning of the Library of Alexandria. Being able to criticise this is something anyone can do, regardless of if they’re a student. I don’t think my ability to protest injustice has to do with my education from Western institutions. However, Australian universities do have ties to Israel and it is imperative that institutions listen to the people they purport to exist for.
Sean: Students have always played important roles in mass struggles against war and oppression throughout history. From the civil rights movement, the campaign against the Vietnam war to the Gaza solidarity encampments, students are moved to action when the horrors of capitalism run up against the ideas taught to them at uni.
Honi Soit: Why should readers spread the word about this event, and what do you most look forward to on the night of performance?
Anastasia: We hope that readers of Honi Soit feel compelled to attend our event, as we want firstly to raise money for the PARA Foundation, and secondly to promote artistic expression as a vehicle for political discourse, rebellion and catharsis. We look forward to meeting other political folks, extending community networks, and experiencing the power of theatre & music.
Visit this link to buy tickets. Dinner and hand-painted Palestinian flag shirts will also be sold on the night, with all proceeds going towards the Palestine Australia Relief and Action Foundation (PARA) to help Palestinian refugees and migrants arriving in Australia.
