Those who saw Ramallah-based Ashtar Theatre’s production of Richard II at the Globe in 2012 will long remember it. Now Ashtar is faced with financial crisis. The theatre needs to raise £40,000 to keep its premises open. It has launched an appeal for funds. Ashtar’s reputation is global, and its work is aimed at creating international solidarities. Its ‘Gaza Monologues’ have brought the voices of Gaza’s children to audiences across the world. It recently launched the ‘Syrian Monologues’ to draw attention to the Syrian refugee crisis and to ‘fight the war machine that turns people to numbers and casualties’.
At home, in the midst of occupation, and the constant threat to free expression and free movement, Ashtar has battled to find a space for theatre. As well as its professional performances, it provides training for theatre workers and drama teachers. It works in the refugee camps; it works in the underfunded schools of the Palestinian Authority.
APUK asks its supporters to help keep Ashtar Theatre alive. Culture is one of the sources of Palestinian endurance. The loss of Ashtar would encourage those who seek to wear that endurance away. Please don’t let this happen.
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