BASSAM

Date: Thursday 12th March
Time: 8pm
Tickets: €12/10

Bassam is about one man’s journey from violence to non-violence and explores the broader moral themes of forgiveness and hope during the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The play demonstrates parallels with issues of conflict resolution in Ireland. At the core of the story, the play asks of its audience: ‘What motivates people to say no to violence and choose the road to peace?’

Bassam is a one man show based on the true story of Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian peace activist whose daughter, Abir, was killed by a border soldier on 16 January 2007. From the age of fifteen, Bassam spent seven years in an Israeli prison for attacking Israeli soldiers during the first Palestinian uprising in 1987. In 2005, Bassam co-founded the Israeli-Palestine peace movement, Combatants for Peace (CFP). CFP is a group of ex-Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian prisoners who have joined together to end the Israeli-Palestine conflict through dialogue and community action.

Two years after founding CFP, Bassam Aramin’s daughter Abir died as a result of a shot to the head from a rubber bullet. In spite of his personal tragedy Bassam continued his peace work.

In 2008 the play was produced in Hebrew by the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv and was presented at the prestigious one man show festival “Theatroneto” in Jaffa, Israel.

Since then the play has been translated into four languages (Arabic, English, German and Italian), produced in Ireland
and has toured Northern Ireland, England and France.

The play is followed by a POST SHOW DISCUSSION which allows the audience to explore the complexity of the situation and to open a space for dialogue with the writer and director, Idan Meir and actor, Fadl Mustapha.

To book: http://www.riverbank.ie/shows/bassam