SAFE SHORE

“Safe Shore” – Concerto for a Refugee and an Orchestra, is a theatrical concert exploring the experience of being a refugee and an asylum seeker. The show was created with the notion of the power of art to engage the public in the refugee phenomena in the global aspect as well as the local context. That, against a backdrop of governmental calls to forcefully deport asylum seekers.

 

"Safe Shore” brings journeys of escape to the stage, while dealing especially with that moment in front of the gate, the longing for shelter and in many cases the rejection. In the historic and mythological space of the Tower of David in Jerusalem, 18 members of the Ra’anana Symphonette Orchestra create a boat wishing to reach shelter but is not answered. Throughout the performative boat, 5 actors play refugees who stand repeatedly at the gate. 

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The performance, depicting real stories of Yazidi women, Syrian refugees, asylum seekers from Darfur and Jewish refugees during World War II, is based on research of documentary material the creative team found in autobiographies, news articles, journals, poems and the Israeli Theatre Archive. The show sewed together diverse testimonial fragments, spanning different time periods, historical contexts and geographies, in an attempt to manifest the commonalities of the refugee experience.

 

The show premiered on Thursday, August 15, 2019, as the grand closing event of 360 Festival in Jerusalem – Site-Specific Theatre Festival, as well as featured in Acre Fringe Theatre Festival on October 17, 2019.

 
Director: Maya Buenos

Composer: Danny Fine

Dramaturg and Producer: Kfir Lapid-Mashall

Actors: Zohar Badash, Sigal Chameides, Shahaf Ifhar, Matan Onyameh, Zlil Rubinstein 

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Video, filmed and edited by Ziv Hadash: