The Return - powerful theatrical resistance to genocide | Green Left Radio

So for listeners who haven't heard about The Return, can you tell us what the play is about and what inspired you to write it?

Yeah, sure.

So the return started at the early times of the genocide.

When I saw a video of a Palestinian father from Gaza, his name is Marwan Abu Samra.

So at the time, Marwan was in a hospital next to his daughter, Nagham, who was a famous chaotic champion from Gaza, who represented Palestine on many platforms whenever she can leave Gaza.

And at the time, she was with an amputated leg with fractures in her head and in a coma.

And he

already lost Rosanne, his other daughter, on the same strike.

And he was fleeing to the wall to help him get Nagham out of Gaza to get treatment.

Because at the time, they didn't even have any antibiotics to save her.

So I learned about his story.

I was really moved by this video.

And I looked him up on social media and I found him.

And I said, I want to come and talk to you.

Of course, this is after he left Gaza weeks after his bleeding, and Ma'am only survived for three days, and she succumbed to her wounds.

So he stayed in Egypt, and I looked him up, as they said, and I said, I want to come to you and document your story, which he was very welcoming, very supportive.

And yeah, I went to Egypt, and I started making a documentary about him.

She's still in the process.

I digged so deep with my questions with him.

I tried to understand how he can rebuild himself after losing everything, like losing his two daughters, his home, his security, his money, everything, and to just go and start from zero after being in his late 60s.

So I started editing the documentary, but at the same time I felt the urge to write his story and to add layers from a psychological perspective that I couldn't take

through films.

So yeah, I made this whole script.

It's called The Return.

But in The Return, Marwan will be in Gaza, and he believes that God issued a decree where all martyrs are returning, and they're returning through the clouds.