ICH WERDE NICHT HASSEN (I shall not hate) - Mohammad-Ali Behboudi

ICH WERDE NICHT HASSEN (I shall not hate)
Based on the book by Izzeldin Abuelaish, adapted as a stage monologue by Silvia Armbruster and Ernst Konarek

"On 16 January 2009 at 4:45 p.m., Israeli tank shells were fired into my daughters' bedroom. Bessan, Aya and Mayar were killed instantly, along with their cousin Noor. Because the Israeli military had barred journalists from entering Gaza, I gave a daily phone interview to an Israeli television reporter. Minutes after the attack, I called him at the studio; he put our conversation on air. The news spread around the world in seconds."

This is the story of Dr. Abuelaish, a Palestinian gynaecologist and fertility specialist. He recounts daily life in Gaza, the long waits at Israeli checkpoints, family life caught between hope and despair, and the deadly strike. He would have every reason to hate Israel - instead, he continues to fight for understanding and reconciliation: "Hate blinds and leads to irrational thinking and behaviour. Peace is humanity. Peace means respect. Peace is open dialogue. More necessary today than ever before."

At the Hamburger Privattheatertage 2015, Ernst Konarek's production won the Monica Bleibtreu Prize for Best Contemporary Drama. The jury wrote in its citation: "The economy of means, the gravity of the performance carried by desperate humour, the unusual and surprising perspective on a subject we thought we already knew - nothing better can happen to us as theatre-goers than to be stripped of our certainties and moved to active hope, authenticated by the power of a single performer: Mohammad-Ali Behboudi."

"An evening of great intensity." - Stuttgarter Zeitung