On Sunday, February 7, we went to the Next Theatre for their premiere of Return to Haifa. Tomorrow, we will publish our review. There is a fascinating back story about this production that goes to the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassani Kanafani (1936-1972), the Palestinian novelist, newspaper man, and spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine wrote the novella Returning to Haifa, after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. With the border newly opened, his characters Said and Safiyeh leave their West Bank home and travel to see the house in Haifa from which they fled in 1948. Said and Safiyeh discover that a Jewish couple who are Holocaust survivors now live in the house.
The New Yorker in its January 18, 2010 issue says of Kanafani, that he” portrays Israeli settlers sympathetically–perhaps for the first time in modern Arab literature.”
Here is an excerpt from the novella, Returning to Haifa:
He used to know Haifa stone by stone, intersection by intersection. How often he had crossed that road in his green 1946 
Ford! Oh, he knew Haifa well, and now he felt as though he hadn’t been away for twenty years. He was driving his car just as he used to, as though he hadn’t been absent those twenty bitter years…The names began to rain down inside his head as though a great layer of dust had been shaken off them: Wadi Nisnas, King Fisal Street, Hanatir Square, Halisa, Hadar.
Suddenly, the house loomed up, the very house he had first lived in, then kept alive in his memory for so long. Here it was again, its front balcony bearing its coat of yellow paint. Instantly he imagined that Safiyya, young again with her hair in a long braid, was about to lean over the balcony toward him. There was a new clothesline attached to two pegs on the balcony; new bits of washing, red and white, hung on the line. Safiyya began to cry audibly. He turned to the right and directed the car’s wheels up over the low curb, then stopped the car in its old spot. Just like he used to do – exactly – twenty years ago. (Ghassan Kanafani, Palestine’s Children: Returning to Haifa and other Palestinian Stories, translated by Barbara Harlow & Karen E. Riley, Lynne Rienner Publishers, London 2000, pp.152/161)
In 2008, in connection with the 40th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, Israeli playwright Boaz Gaon adapted Kanafani’s novella into the play, The Return to Haifa.
“What’s so special about this production is that it gives an arena for people of both sides to listen to each other’s narratives,” director Sinai Peter told Reuters at the time ahead of the opening night in Jaffa, south of central Tel Aviv.
Palestinian graffiti tribute to Kanafani
The performance of this play angered members of the Israeli right wing because of Kanafani’s connection to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Kanafani was assassinated in 1972 in retribution for the Lod Airport Massacre which killed 26 and injured 80 others at the Tel Aviv Airport.
The Japanese Red Army , a group trained by the PFLP, carried out the Lod attack. In the letter claiming official responsibility the PFLP referred to it as Operation Deir Yassin. This was to portray it as revenge for the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre by Jewish Irgun members.
“He was a killer and a terrorist,” said one of the protesters, Haim Rabinovich, who stood outside the theatre dressed in a Palestinian red checkered headdress and carrying a toy gun. “This is a play for Tehran or Ramallah, not for Israel.”
However, audience member Israeli Uri Yarkoni disagreed. “People need to see there are two sides to this story or we will be bombing and killing each other for another 100 years.”
Yesterday night, driven by a noble desire to be open-minded and trusting in sanity of Evanston-based audience, I went to see preview of the play “Return to Haifa” at the Next theater. I sincerely hoped that the play would make a fair attempt to sort out and show the plight of both people, Jews and Arabs. Though the novel novel by Ghassan Fayiz Kanafani, as well as the production made by the Isral Cameri theater, are good attempts to bring two sides together, the production of the Next theater is skewed to one side and is full with cheap dramatization. The Evanston circa of the play pretty much equates what Jews did to the Palestinians to Holocaust, as they compare and equate two families. They turn to pathetic pity-inducing scenes with evil Israeli soldiers and throw away facts and lies together, I guess aiming at poor-informed audience. The play is also an artistic failure. The monologues are too long and poorly connected; it’s not dynamic and beating around same bush (literally same rose bush) too long.
Michael:
Interesting comment indeed. Did you stay for the discussion session? A woman was likewise very unhappy with the play. And yet others applauded its open-mindedness. We are publishing a review tomorrow (an incomplete version got printed today) and we’d love to hear what you have to say.
Don
Yes, the the audience, which was mostly North Shore Jewish, applaude indeed. But this is expected, isn’t it, as we are all ridden with internal guilt for the others suffering as we have once suffered. We are the first to respond to civil right violations, for plight of Indonesians or Haitians; we feel guilty of inequality between south side and north side of Chicago, and we are the first to applaud when we see an imaginary evil Jewish soldier forcing an innocent Palestinian boy to prove his music skills by kneeling down and playing the piano drawn on sand. How can’t we stay silent when shown a suffering a reasonably uninvolved Palestinan family. But, all this does not excuse a failure of the Next theater playright to show both sides fairly by throwing away facts and lies together. And it’s an artistic flop. The monologues are too long and poorly connected; it’s not dynamic and beating around same bush (literally same rose bush) too long.
Michael:
Clever line about “the bush.”
It will be instructive to read other reviews. Chris Jones in the Trib gave it 3 stars. http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2010/02/return-to-haifa-at-next-theatre-two-pained-couples-one-turbulent-home-in-israel.html
I think that it would have been a very successful one act play with the action focusing on the Arab family returning to their home in Haifa.
Thanks for your comments.
Yes, you are aboslutely right. I failed to mention that all actors did their best under the circumstances. And by the way, have people noticed the symbolism of the last scene when both mothers lift their babies out of their crades? It should symbolize hope but pretty much prompt the audience think that it is how the history could be if the Jewish mother did not suffer through Holocaust and the Palestinian mother did not suffer through what – Jewish agression? That’s where the history and responsibities of two peoples got eqated in this version of the play.
Yes, you are aboslutely right. I failed to mention that all actors did their best under the circumstances. And by the way, have people noticed the symbolism of the last scene when both mothers lift their babies out of their crades? It should symbolize hope but pretty much prompt the audience think that it is how the history could be if the Jewish mother did not suffer through Holocaust and the Palestinian mother did not suffer through what – Jewish agression? That\’s where the history and responsibities of two peoples got eqated in this version of the play.
Dear Mr. Geynisen – with all due respect sir, I think you already had a set agenda coming into this play. Anyone who begins their comments with “driven by a noble desire to be open-minded and trusting in sanity of Evanston-based audience” is already in deep trouble. In my opinion, this play did indeed give a balanced point of view for both sides and I don’t think the play promotes lies and falsehoods as you so aggressively comment on. I think you saw the play you wanted to see from the moment you entered the theatre. But that’s fine. You have every right to your opinion, but don’t go bashing the play because your agenda is written all over it. It’s not fair to the theatre, the patrons who see it, or the artists who are working very hard to tell this story. The monolougues were just fine. The actors, designers, director did a wonderful job presenting this story to us. It’s up to us the audience to decide what we agree with or don’t agree with. Clearly, you didn’t agree with the play. That’s fine. I however, felt it was a compassionate and well told story of how global circumstances beyond our control can infiltrate our daily lives. Such has been true of may world events over time and this one is no different. Also, how many times have we failed to see or hear the point of view from the other side, in this case, the Palestinian side. Rarely do I see any plays, movies, television shows that present such a view. It was refreshing to just have that side at least examined in this play. Our American society is so pro-Israel and zionist propoganda heavy, that we fail to see the other side of the coin. Regardless of where you stand with your political viewpoints, you should see the play. It is well worth it and as you can see, will foster much discussion. Thank you for the time. – James Richardson
Dear Mr. Richardson,
With all due respect, sir, I think you already had a set agenda coming into this play. Anyone who concludes their comments with “Our American society is so pro-Israel and Zionist propaganda heavy, that we fail to see the other side of the coin”, is already in deep trouble. Hmm, sounds familiar, ah? I’m glad you commented. Because I’m sure that all of us, who come to see this play, were driven by compassion and desire to understand “the other side of the coin” as you well put it. And yes, we came to see this play because we feel for the plight of the Palestinians. The simple reason is that we are Russian Jews, and we were pretty much driven from our homes some 20 years ago, left Russia with nothing and started new life here. No, we never looked back or grieved for our rose bushes but tried our best to built new life from scratch. Surely America is not West Bank under Israeli control. And I hope that the Israel and the rest of the world will help Palestinians to rebuilt. But I hoped to see a message that they are ready to start rebuilding themselves. With all this, I would hope that neither Zionist propaganda, nor bashing Israel will never penetrate our great and embracing American society.
Fantastic show…bully to you sir.