Santa Claus and satire, postmen and prisoners – these are tiles in the rich mosaic of stories produced by Palestinian playwrights, given the prompt to write on whatever they want. These stories form part of Tomorrow Will Be A Palestinian Day , a showcase of nine short works by playwrights from Palestine and in exile, performed by an all-Palestinian cast, being put on at Theatre503 in London in early June. The show's cornerstone is the English-language world premiere of part of a play by the late Palestinian intellectual Walid Daqqa , who was one of the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention at the time of his death in April 2024. The New Arab hears from participating playwrights in Palestine and from some of the crew and cast in London about the production. Carte blanche The works featured in Tomorrow … have been co-curated and co-produced by the White Kite Collective , PalArt , and Bet'n Lev Theatre .
"The commissioning process has been quite special in the sense of the diversity of subject and voice… Every time a new script came in, it was an exciting new piece of the puzzle of this collection of nine plays," Joel Samuels, co-producer and member of both White Kite and Bet'n Lev, tells The New Arab .
"My only stipulation has always been: let's not ask playwrights from Palestine to speak about what we want them to speak about. Let's give them carte blanche to approach this however they choose," Samuel says.
The plays are being co-directed by PalArt's Ahmed Masoud and Micaela Miranda.
"What ties the pieces together is that they unite Palestinians from all parts of Palestine, even from within Israeli jails," Masoud tells The New Arab .
"They all tell human stories, mixing hope with fear and a cry for the outside world to hear the Palestinian voice more. I am honoured to direct them and bring forth my understanding of that sense of loss and optimism at the same time." Gaza's playwrights All but two of the living playwrights featured in Tomorrow … are from Gaza; four of them are still living in Gaza, while two live in exile.
Among the writers from Gaza is Jehad Abu Dayya, a 22-year-old medical student.
Abu Dayya has been writing since middle school, but during the first several months of the genocide, he stopped the practice altogether.
"I was unable to adapt and was completely overwhelmed by the endless lines for water, the search for food, and the constant struggle to find a safe place for displacement," Abu Dayya tells The New Arab .
Seven months later, he returned to writing, a discipline he says helped him "pull out hope". Since then, he has produced his first poetry collection, Slaughtered on the Margin of Time , and an English-language zine, To The World: A Comic From Gaza , illustrated by fellow young Gazan Esraa al-Banna .
"I dedicated my nights to writing these works on my phone, while during the day I helped my family survive," Abu Dayya says of writing during genocide.
"During our displacement in southern Gaza, I used to walk nearly two kilometres just to find an internet connection and communicate with friends who helped me publish my work."
His contribution to the showcase, Ruins , is his first foray into playwriting. He says it "tells one of the many stories of living beneath the rubble."
"I hoped that it could convey even a small part of our pain to the world. If it reaches even a few people and gives them genuine emotion and understanding, I would be the happiest person."
Working in Gaza's hospitals during the genocide and an Israeli siege that cuts healthcare facilities off from the medical supplies they urgently need has greatly informed his writing, including Ruins .
"Volunteering in hospitals allowed me to witness countless human stories filled with grief and the absurdity of existence," he says.
"What disturbed me most in the hospital were the constant choices between life and death: whom we choose to save, and whom we leave behind according to international medical protocols, especially amid the severe shortage of medical staff and resources," he adds. "I often asked myself: if I were in the place of the person struggling for life, how would I view existence? And would I willingly give my chance at survival to someone else who stood closer to rescue than I did?"
Also from Gaza is writer and educator Nahil Mohana , who has had a novel, poetry, short stories, and plays published. Her work is no stranger to London stages, with her play Lipstick performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2015. She has also been keeping a diary since the start of the genocide, with entries from it published by Granta , LitHub , and other outlets.
"Writing has become a form of survival and healing for me, especially after the war. I write constantly," Mohana tells The New Arab .
"During the genocide, adrenaline carried me through endless hours of writing without sleep. I felt compelled to document my days moment by moment — to protect my memory from disappearance, and to preserve the Palestinian narrative from fragmentation and erasure." In her play Santa Claus on Holiday, centred on children, but meant for all, an empty-handed Santa is met by Gaza's children with wisdom and kindness. "I was searching for a symbol that would already be familiar to Western audiences while still carrying some degree of recognition in our own culture," she tells The New Arab of her choice of the Santa Claus character.
"From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to write about children and move closer to children's theatre, because children have been the group most devastated by the war."
Mohana teaches creative writing to children and young people in Gaza, something she says she has continued to do during the genocide . The young writers under her wing have been a major source of inspiration to her, for this play and beyond.
"Every artistic work or play I have written has been inspired by the children I teach – children I encourage first to express themselves, then to write their fears, pain, and dreams," she says.
"I truly believe that those who survive pain are often the ones most capable of creating hope. When I look at these children, I see a promising future and a strength they may not yet recognise within themselves."
"More than anything, I hope the audience in London gains even a small understanding of what Palestinian children have endured… I also want them to see how intelligent and aware Palestinian children are. Despite everything, they remain capable of generosity. In the play, it is our children who give gifts to Santa Claus for children around the world – not the other way around."
Mohana teaches children and young people through the Tamer Institute for Community Education, which published Walid Daqqa's young adult novel, The Secret of the Oil , in 2018. It is a connection to the late Daqqa that Mohana describes as "ironic" and "beautiful".
"Had life been a little easier, I would have loved to be there in London simply to witness the performances inspired by his legacy," she says. "I deeply admire his writing, which has inspired an entire generation." The Martyrs of Ramallah Tomorrow … sees the first English-language iteration of a 15-minute extract from the late Walid Daqqa's The Martyrs of Ramallah .
Written in 2021 – 35 years into Daqqa's time in Israeli imprisonment – and set in Israel's infamous Gilboa Prison , the play centres on a conversation among three real-life prisoners whose bodies are being held in an Israeli prison morgue, withheld from their families and deprived of a dignified burial. The play bears tragic prescience; Daqqa himself was moved to Gilboa while in ailing health in 2023, and more than two years since his death from cancer , his body is still held in Israeli captivity, with the Israeli Supreme Court ruling in October 2024 that his body could be kept indefinitely by authorities to use as a chip to bargain with for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Daqqa's writings on the prison experience and its parallels with the broader Palestinian condition under Israeli occupation and blockade are an inspiration to many contemporary writers, Palestinian or otherwise.
Among those whom Daqqa inspired is Motasem Abu Hasan , an actor, theatre director , and playwright from Nablus in the occupied West Bank, whose life has been deeply affected by imprisonment.
"The text I wrote comes from a deeply rooted Palestinian reality that exists in almost every Palestinian home – the recurring experience of losing a family member through imprisonment," Abu Hasan tells The New Arab of his play, titled Five Minutes. "Throughout my life, my family temporarily lost both my father and my brother because of imprisonment. My brother is currently still in prison," he shares with The New Arab. "What deeply inspired this text was the only letter we received from him after six months of detention, during a period where we knew absolutely nothing about him except those few words. The work asks: What does this kind of loss do to a family? How does a family continue living while part of it is missing?"
Abu Hasan was meant to join the production in London, but was denied a visa, without the possibility to appeal the decision.
"As a Palestinian, honestly, I was not surprised by the visa refusal. In a strange way, it even makes me laugh sometimes… maybe because it has become such a familiar reality for us," he says.
"But beyond that feeling, there is also a real sense of injustice. I am prevented from accessing opportunities due to political circumstances beyond my control, simply because I am Palestinian.
"This opportunity was important for me artistically and professionally, especially because it would have allowed me to expand my experience, engage with different theatrical forms and practices, and connect with the development of theatre internationally."
As borders, blockades, and bombardment prevent a congregation of these Palestinian playwrights, it is up to the cast and crew to drive these stories home.
Among the cast members is actress Sofia Asir, a stage and screen actress whose credits include the critically acclaimed Palestine 36 .
"A large cast from all across Palestine is coming together, as if pulled into the same space from different directions, collectively sharing these stories, and it feels like a shared responsibility we carry as artists," Asir tells The New Arab .
"I hope audiences encounter something intimate and raw – something that cannot be fully known from news or from the outside, but becomes present through embodied performance… I hope it creates closeness to people and stories that are often reduced to headlines, but here are held as immediate, living moments." Tomorrow Will Be A Palestinian Day runs at Theatre503 in London from 1-6 June Shahla Omar is a freelance journalist based in London Follow her on Instagram: @shahlatan