Palestinian Theatre in the West Bank

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Cultural intifada, beautiful resistance.- Chapter 3: Aren't we human?.- Chapter 4: A stage of one's own.- Chapter 5: Acting on the pain of others.

Gabriel Varghese is an associate research fellow at the Kenyon Institute (Council for British Research in the Levant) in East Jerusalem. His research engages with anti-/post-/de-colonial theatre, performance and literature, and the questions they raise about social movements, dramaturgies of urban life, and regimes of gender, sexuality and race. He is also a playwright, theatre director, and co-artistic director of Sandpit Arts, an award-winning platform for producing film, music and performance events. He holds a PhD in Drama from the University of Exeter.

"Varghese's book meets these difficult tasks with aplomb and erudition, an impressive feat considering the book's readability and its brisk 166 pages. ... The book is thus a valuable contribution to a field and a cultural practice ... . It gives an in-depth overview of theater in the West Bank while remaining accessible. The book will be useful to the study of contemporary global theater, to students and teachers of Palestinian culture, and to anyone interested ... ." (Faisal Hamadah, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 51 (1), 2022)


"As a reader, I feel he delivers a scholarship not only on theatre but also, and most importantly, I argue, a scholarship on the lived experience in Palestine. His narrative becomes a counterpublic and the book challenges and disrupts the Zionist public sphere. If a researcher on theatrical productions turns into a political activistafter reading this book, I would not be surprised." (Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, Vol. 19 (2), 2020)

"Palestinian Theatre in the West Bank: Our Human Faces enriches existing studies on the subject of Palestine and Palestinian cultural resistance since the first Intifada by offering a much-needed perspective on the role that Palestinian theatre in the West Bank plays in this context. As such, it is an important study for anyone interested in the relationship between culture and politics in the Middle East." (Isabelle Hesse, Contemporary Levant, August 19, 2020)



"I recommend this book not only to the cohort of researchers and students interested in the subject but also to general public who want to learn about Palestinian theatre specifically or Palestine and the Palestinian cause generally." (Tiran Manucharyan, Studies in Theatre and Performance, June 8, 2020)