Promise Land

On Sunday, I attended The Peace Maker (Pomme Grenade Productions) at The Factory Theatre as part of Next Stage. Based on her travels, playwright Natasha Greenblatt, has crafted a play about an idealistic young Jewish woman from Toronto and her experience with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Sophie (Rebecca Auerbach) has arrived in Israel as part of the real-life Birthright program, where non-Israeli Jews are given a tour with the expressed hope of convincing them to move to the "Homeland". The play alternated between her time with Birthright, its voluble and insistent guide Ronen (Michael Rubenfeld), and a love interest in Israeli soldier Oran (Jeff Irving) and her stay in the West Bank with businessman Wael (Sam Kalilieh) teaching music to young Palestinians. She also developed a rapport with Wael's prickly daughter Haneen (Harveen Sandhu) and English translator Saif (Razi Shawahdeh).

The stage was divided into her classroom (a few chairs and a table) on the left, her bedroom (both in Tel Aviv and the West Bank) on the right, and an immense brick wall upon which were projected photos of her trip, various locations in Israel, and graffiti and martyr posters of dead Palestinians.

The central conflicts were one, how and why did Sophie moved from Israel to the "Occupied Territory" and two, can she make any meaningful changes with her vision of "peace through music"? The two came to a head after she was able to arrange for a performance of her group "The Horns of Freedom" in Jerusalem.

In the front row of the audience sat young musicians, who played as both Jewish and Palestinian bands, and provided the music throughout the evening: from traditional Jewish songs, to plaintive Arabic chants, to Europop group Ace of Base (a common point of interest). The actors played their roles well and with nuance yet they felt oddly two-dimensional to me. Then I realized that real lives, framed and informed by well-trod arguments and views about this conflict, have turned into talking points despite valiant effort by Greenblatt and her team. What a curious, and oddly deflating, feeling.

During the talkback, moderated by Evelyn Tauben, there was some talk about this issue of "Why should we [North Americans] care?" As an example, guest speaker Rabbi Miriam Margles (Danforth Jewish Circle), spoke about her group Encounter, which attempts to encourage more dialogue between Jewish leaders of varying political stances, among themselves and also with Palestinians.