A play entitled “33 Minutes for Palestine” scripted by the French playwright Jan Jack Grino is currently being staged as part of the annual Theatrical Festival held in the French City of Avignon.
The play depicts indirectly the suffering of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation and points out how the “rights of people are inverted as crimes.” The text also includes indications about the situation in future.
The play is staged by actress Katie Grandi only along with the writer who plays the role as journalist who remains seated and reading press texts that depict the daily circumstances of the Palestinians. The journalist enhances his reports with images that serve as a witness on the status quo.
Grandi who directed the play also plays the role as a Palestinian woman who lives under the Israeli occupation and the lack of her human rights, the fact that makes her feel suffocated, as is the case with all the besieged Palestinians.
Grino tries to describe the Palestinian plight through words that have certain conceptions such as “terrorism”, “occupation”, “apartheid” and others. He also tries to explain the reasons, which spur Palestinians to carry out martyrdom operations. He even depicts a woman carrying an embryo fertilized by earth and giving birth to a baby who grows fast and becomes martyr.
For her part, director and actress Grandi told the press, “it was necessary for me to participate in this work in Avignon as Palestine should be addressed in such a theatrical festival. I feel that silence surrounds the issue and we have received threats by some persons for just trying to tackle the Palestinian issue.” -- Albawaba.com
