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Jerusalem
Met ondersteuning van tg STAN waren Scarlet Tummers en Atta Nasser in het najaar van 2020 bij ZUIDPOOL in residentie. Met Jeruzalem als vertrekpunt hebben ze zich vooral heel veel vragen gesteld: ‘Wat geloven we? Wat hebben we geloofd? Wat willen we geloven?’
Dit voorjaar zullen ze vanop afstand proberen uit het gecreëerde materiaal een script te distilleren. Om hopelijk in mei een aantal pogingen te kunnen doen om die tekst te spelen voor een publiek.
Het creëren van het script zullen ze met jullie delen. Omdat dit een proces is, waar zij ook het resultaat nog niet van kennen, is het mogelijk dat jullie 10 versies van een eerste scène te lezen zullen krijgen. Of een opzet van een vertelstructuur, zonder dat elk element daarvan al is ingevuld. Of dat ze net voor het einde er toch voor kiezen om weer van voren af aan te beginnen.
Het is ook zeer goed mogelijk dat dit script op geen enkele manier te herkennen zal zijn in dat wat ze uiteindelijk zullen spelen.
Één dingen weten ze wel zeker: de titel.
JERUSALEM
Scene 4
They build Jerusalem
The walls of the Old City
The streets
The rock where Abraham wanted to sacrifice his son
The Al-Aqsa mosque
The church where Jesus was washed
The Islamic neighborhood
The Jewish neighborhood
The Christian neighborhood
The shop with the best humus
The best falafel
The best bread
Jerusalem bread
The Eiffel dessert shop
The check points
Scarlet
What did you think when you saw me for the first time?
Pause.
Scarlet
What are you thinking now?
And now?
I think you think I think I’m smart
Atta
I think that I’m smarter than you
Scarlet
I think you think I cannot cook
Atta
I think you’re right
Scarlet
I think you think I’m soft
Atta
I think that you think I’m soft
Scarlet
I think you think I don’t believe in anything
Atta
I think that your believes are shallow
Scarlet
I think that you just think you don’t believe, but actually you do
Atta
I think that it is none of your business
Scarlet
I think you think you can fool us
Atta
I think you think there is an ‘us’
Scarlet
I think you also think that
I think that everybody here thinks that
Atta
I think that you don’t have any idea what I think
Scarlet
I think that I don’t care
Atta
You think that you think you don’t care;
I think that you do
Scarlet
I think
Atta
I don’t
Scarlet
Yes
Atta
NO
Scarlet
And you think that’s better?
Atta
I think that I don’t have any idea what you are talking about
Scarlet
To not think
Is that better?
Atta
I think that’s better, yes
Scarlet
Don’t you think that’s a privilege?
Scene 5
Scarlet
And then you asked me what love is
Love is
To be able to
Love another person the way he or she or they is
And I don’t believe -
Love is difficult
It becomes more difficult every day
And then I started talking about different aspects of love
First there is ‘in love’
And that is easy
But then you get into ‘a relationship’ and that is more difficult because then you have to live together all the time
Well, of course that’s a decision, you don’t have to
And then, when you’re in a relationship, you have to talk about everything
About how you want things to be
Which plates you want, which wine glasses, which olive oil
How clean you want your bathroom to be
And then you get children
And then you have to discuss how you want to raise them
So, you have to talk even more
And then it gets even more complicated
Because all of a sudden, your whole history gets involved
Where you ran away from
How you want things to be different
And then I realized that I was talking about having a family
So, I tried to answer again
What is love?
Love is
That somebody can love you and you can still have the freedom to be who you want to be also without that person
That you can decide: I want to be with you
But I can be the same as I am without you
And I was so shocked about my answer!
Why am I so afraid that being together with somebody will change me?
Will influence me?
What am I holding on to?
Also, my answer was so egocentric!
I was only talking about me
About being loved
Not at all thinking about what it is to love someone
To give
As if asked by Atta How does it feel in my body?
I feel very awake
I have a lot of energy
Everything goes very fast
I get very skinny
I don’t have to eat anymore
I don’t have to sleep
I’m very enthusiastic
I’m very ‘very’
And louder than I am when I’m not in love
I see a lot of people
To show and share that I’m in love
I feel it everywhere
In my toes
In my heart
In my belly
Atta
Do you sleep well now?
Scarlet
No.
Atta
So, you’re in love?
Silence.
Atta
When was the last time you were really in love?
Scarlet
Before I had children
Because ever since, I am just so occupied with being worried
Or did I grow up?
Am I not young anymore?
Atta
Do you think the more we grow up the less we love?
Pause.
Atta
Think of the first first first love in your life
Pause.
Atta
We grow up
And then we just appreciate people
We are living in the same city, but we’re not connected
We are living next to each other, but we are not connected
What do you want to learn?
Scarlet
I want to learn how to live.
Media gallery items
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Afbeeldingen:
De fotograaf Emile Ashrawi was in de jaren ‘70 leider van de politieke ‘Balaleen Theatre Group’.
De poster is van één van hun producties "Qiṭʿet Ḥayāt" (A Slice of Life) die in première ging op 22 januari 1972.
Lees ook:
Work in progress | Jerusalem 1
Work in progress | Jerusalem 2