Ben Rivers talks about the play he wrote and performs, 'The invaders' fear of memories: A play about the colonisation of Palestine'.
The play is based on the diaries of his great-grandfather, Yousef Nachmani, who fled Tsarist Russia in 1907 for Ottoman Palestine. Full of Zionist ideals, he became complicit in the displacement of thousands of Palestinian people.
Ben's father (Yousef's grandson) became a peace activist, and Ben continues his father's path with this play, believing that descendants have a responsibility to bring attention to history and tell the truth. As he points out, this history can help us understand what is currently happening in Palestine, and the ideology and conditions that have allowed the State of Israel to attack Palestine with such impunity.
THE INVADERS’ FEAR OF MEMORIES: A PLAY ABOUT THE COLONISATION OF PALESTINE
To buy tickets for the Melbourne performance, go to: https://www.themcshowroom.com/whatson/the-invaders-fear-of-memories
The production is being organised by the Loud Jew Collective with support and endorsement from the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) and the Averroes Centre of Arab Culture.
Additional note from Ben: I would also like to mention that in each location I perform, there is a guest actor who performs excerpts of a poem called 'On This Land' by the renowned Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish. The title of the play is taken from this poem. The poem is woven into the text towards the end of the play. The person performing this poem in Naarm, is Yousef Alreemawi - a Palestinian academic and musician and founder of the Averroes Centre of Arab Culture. Yousef will also be joining me onstage after the show for an audience Q&A.
Jennifer Borrell & Jacques Boulet
