„Dear Laila, you are five now and have started to ask me where I grew up, and why we can’t go there. This is me trying to give you an answer.“
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Basel Zaraa: Dear Laila
Basel Zaraa: Dear Laila
Basel Zaraa: Dear Laila
Basel Zaraa: Dear Laila
Basel Zaraa: Dear Laila
The seeds of Dear Laila were planted when Basel Zaraa’s five-year-old daughter began to ask him about his home growing up. Unable to take her there, he decided he would try to bring the place to her, by creating a model of his childhood home in Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus.
Dear Laila, which has been touring the world since 2022 and won the ZKB audience Award in 2023, shares the Palestinian experience of displacement and resistance through the story of one family, exploring how war and exile are experienced through the everyday, the domestic, and the public space.
An intimate, interactive installation experienced by one audience member at a time, Dear Laila uses the retelling of memories, tactile details and objects to bring this now destroyed place to life.
Dear Laila is an installation for one person per time slot:
- May 16/17: Every 20 minutes between 3:00 PM and 11:00 PM
- May 18: Every 20 minutes between 12:00 PM and 8:00 PM
- Duration: 15 minutes
- Berlin Premiere
- In English, German, or Arabic
Additional information
By: Basel ZaraaTranslator, script editor: Emily Churchill ZaraaSound engineer: Pete ChurchillProduction assistant: Ward Zaraa
A production by Basel Zaraa, commissioned by Good Chance Theatre. With the support of Arts Council England. The guest performance takes place as part of Making Life in the Ruins, a festival by Sophiensæle, funded by the Capital Cultural Fund (HKF). Media partners: Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
A production by Basel Zaraa, commissioned by Good Chance Theatre. With the support of Arts Council England. The guest performance takes place as part of Making Life in the Ruins, a festival by Sophiensæle, funded by the Capital Cultural Fund (HKF). Media partners: Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
Dates
May 2025
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