Homesick

After the production is before the production – but before is, then again, at the very beginning. This constitutes the novel “Homesick” by Israeli author Eshkol Nevo, adapted for the stage by the German director Nicole Leicher. What we see linked here is, on more than one level, a genuine bilateral project – one that aims to raise awareness of Israeli literature in Germany. Alongside the authors, all participating (professional) actors have either a German, Israeli or Arab background. And last but not least the novel and the adapted play describe processed confrontations and constellations in contemporary Israel, but at the same time these themes are important in Germany and around the world.

 

Noa, a student, initially leaves her boyfriend Amir in order to find her own voice. Her neighbor Sima envies the young woman’s freedom, and Amir befriends the young Yotam and is confronted with the boy’s fate of being neglected by his parents since the death of his older brother in a war with Lebanon. And then there is Modi who is traveling around the world but is overwhelmed by homesickness, as well as the Arab construction worker Saddiq, who longs to enter his family’s former home now lived in by Jewish Israelis. All characters either lose or leave something, yet in the end also return to something – just like the artists who collectively work on this collage and who insert into the process their own questions, experiences, and backgrounds.

 

Exactly this exploration of perspectives and courses of action during the rehearsals and later performances is at the project’s core. Not only the stage scenes are developed in improvisations and in conversations, by means of music and in language (Hebrew and German), but also networks and insights into the sensibilities of German, Israeli, and Arab societies –firstly for the all participants but also for the audience during performances in both Germany and Israel.

 

The theater production “Homesick” is a project of “Glashaus – Verein der Nutzer der Brotfabrik e. V.” It takes place from April to December 2011, and this period of time includes everything from drawing up the concept, to rehearsals, to the scene installations to performing the piece. The project is based on the novel “Homesick” by the Israeli author Eshkol Nevo and is adapted to the stage by the German director Nicole Leicher. Premiere: April 28, 2011 in the Brotfabrik, Berlin. Additional performances in Frankfurt/Main and in Israel are planned for autumn 2011.