“Theater can contribute to ending the occupation”

Marina Barham is the co-founder and director of Al-Harah, a theater close to Bethlehem in Palestine. She strongly believes theater can help both children and adults not only deal with the traumas of occupation, but also to resist it.

In a constantly unsafe situation like an ongoing occupation, theater can help children feel safe again, according to Marina Barham of Al-Harah Theater in Bethlehem in Palestine. She has been involved in making theater in the occupied Westbank for almost three decades, and shares her experiences with interactive theater: “We had heard from schools that children were very inactive, traumatized, they literally wouldn’t move. We decided to talk to social workers and children psychologists about how we can help children get through the daily trauma. We developed an interactive show, with music, exercise, songs, lots of colours. We talked to the children, told them we were scared too, that we also sometimes wanted to close our eyes and just scream to get rid of the tension. Initially they hardly showed reaction, but after ten, fifteen minutes, they started to react, to move, to express themselves.”

Al-Harah Theater is deeply rooted in the community, as the name clearly shows: Al-Harah means The Neighbourhood. Barham is one of the founders, after she had worked for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and for her own consultancy company for some years and tried to convince influential people from abroad to help end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. By coincidence, she became involved in theater. Ever since, she tries to help both children and adults deal with the trauma of occupation, and contribute to a free Palestine.