WHEN THE BULBUL STOPPED SINGING

Traverse Theatre
by Raja Shehadeh

"We are delighted to announce that there will be two exclusive previews of 'When the Bulbul Stopped Singing' at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, on Thu 29 & Fri 30 July at 8pm. Tickets are £5 and available from the Tron on 0141 552 4267/www.tron.co.uk.

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The Palestinian story has become synonymous with occupation, landlessness and the struggle for nationhood. But what’s it like for the individual, when the threat knocks on his own door?

Whose home is it anyway?

In the spring of 2002, the Israeli Army - the fourth most powerful in the world - invaded the West Bank city of Ramallah and laid siege to its people for one long month. Ramallah, known as the ‘Bride of Palestine’ for its heritage, internationalism, economy, and vibrant mix of Christian and Muslim traditions, was devastated, and its people killed. Palestinian cultural organisations were singled out for destruction.

When the Bulbul Stopped Singing is a tour de force for one actor which documents Raja Shehadeh’s determination to withstand invasion and draws a meticulous, quiet picture of sheer ordinariness fighting back: tanks at the end of the street; soldiers camping out in his brother’s apartment; crops rotting in the fields; no bread. And still Raja paces his house and wryly attests to the Palestinian secret weapon: ‘surmoud’, or perseverance.

The stage adaptation is by David Greig, one of Scotland’s leading playwrights, whose plays for the Traverse include Outlying Islands, The Speculator, The Architect and Europe. David has worked in Palestine with Al Kasaba Theatre Company and has written widely about the region.

RAJA SHEHADEH is an acclaimed Palestinian lawyer, activist and writer. He is the founder of the pioneering, non-partisan human rights organisation Al Haq, an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, and the author of several books about international law, human rights and the Middle East.

His highly-praised memoir Strangers in the House documents his family’s flight from Jaffa in 1948 under the British Mandate, and has just been published in Hebrew for the first time. When the Bulbul Stopped Singing was published by Profile Books in December 2002.