Crazy Peace

Crazy Peace by and with Ismail Dabbagh was about Abu Halimah; the man who went to buy shoes and came back with a pair in which both fit the right foot. The story about him is as familiar to the Palestinians as the story about Per the Musician is to Norwegians.

But in this story Abu Halimah was a real man who joined the Palestinian army and had two right boots delivered out. Now he is an old man and he is invited to receive thanks for his efforts, ”The medal of the patient camel". Dressed in his old uniform he tells about his time in the army, the labyrinths of nationalist rhetoric, the disappointment of returning to a motherland in which he can't find his dreams, a nation seemingly not existing anywhere but in the words.

Ismail Dabbagh was both an actor and a playwright in Crazy Peace, a monologue with a grand gallery of persons. The performance was made by Al-Ruwah Theatre in Jerusalem and has been played numerous times in Israel, the West Bank, Syria and Jordan. The performance was characteristically Palestinian in joining the traditional storytelling theatre with current events and that it was constructed to play in venues as well as in an open street or a refugee camp.

Crazy Peace by Ismail Dabbagh was supported by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs/MFA (grant for cultural exchange with Southern countries/performing arts)

Source:

Dramatikkens hus, dramatikkenshus.no, 04.09.2010, http://dramatikkenshus.no/pub/dramatikkenshus/Innhold/kalenderarkiv/?aid=797&cid=1045&viewall=1#dramatikkenshus