The Performance
Stories from everyday life in Gaza, written under Israel’s daily bombardments by Hossam Al Madhoun, are brought to the stage through slam, spoken word and acting. They intertwine with dance scenes, where music and the poetry of movement give voice to what words alone cannot express.
At the centre of the stage, a puppet embodying a three-year-old girl wanders through the ruins, suspended between dream and nightmare, between life and death.
More than a performance, this work is an attempt to make visible what is truly happening in Gaza — not only since October 7, 2023, but over the past 77 years. The presence of two children on stage, alongside the puppet of this wandering little girl, makes tangible the absurdity, injustice and devastating impact of a war waged against humanity, and against its children in particular.
Carried by a team of artists from diverse backgrounds — including a Palestinian refugee and an artist of Jewish origin — the performance defies hatred, breaks through walls of silence and wilful blindness, and affirms peace, justice, and the Palestinian people’s right to exist and to self-determination.
On Stage
Testimony
Through a dialogue between spoken word, slam, dance and live music, the performance creates a space where bodies, voices and silences bear witness to lived reality.
Bodies & Sound
Dance scenes translate what words cannot express. Original music supports both text and silence, while the presence of a puppet representing a three-year-old child moves through the ruins as a fragile and powerful symbol of innocence confronted with destruction.
Children on Stage
The presence of two children among the performers is a conscious artistic choice. Their voices and bodies make the violence of the situation impossible to abstract, rendering the impact of war immediate, tangible and deeply human.
Languages & Accessibility
Languages
The performance is mainly in French, with passages in English and Arabic.
Subtitles
The performance is mainly in French, with passages in English and Arabic.
Additional Languages
Subtitles can be made available in other languages upon request.
Music
Original musical compositions by Nizar Bredan, a Belgian pianist of Libyan origin, support the spoken texts, the silences between them, and the voice of the body expressed through dance.
His music opens an emotional landscape that words alone cannot fully convey when addressing the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Writing Under Siege
Hossam Al Madhoun
Hossam Al Madhoun was born in Gaza and lived there all his life.
A humanitarian coordinator for the NGO Ma’an, he began writing a daily journal to document the lives of Gaza’s inhabitants under siege.
Whenever an internet connection allowed it, he sent his texts beyond the walls enclosing Gaza, so that these words could exist outside silence and isolation.
Writing Under Siege
Written under constant bombardment, Hossam’s texts are neither fiction nor commentary.
They are fragments of daily life, written in urgency, between fear, exhaustion, and the simple act of staying alive.
From Words to Stage
Since November 2023, Transe-en-Danse has been among the public readers of these texts. In April 2024, the company chose to bring them to the stage — through bodies, movement, music and the voices of children and artists from different backgrounds. This performance was born from the desire to let poetry break through the walls of silence, and to confront hatred, one poem at a time.
Credits
Text
Hossam Al Madhoun
Jonathan Nguyen
Marie Darah
music
Nizar Bredan
light
Charles Hoebanx
Artistic direction, adaptation, staging and choreography
Coline Billen
PUPPETS
Alma Roccella
Scenography
Alma Roccella
Created at the request of
The Brussels City Council’s Department for International Solidarity, within the framework of the 2024 Solidarity Fortnight, on the theme “Building Peace”
With the support of
the FWB (Promotion of Citizenship and Interculturality) and the City of Brussels.