Alaa Shehada: The Horse of Jenin

From Palestine, a theatrical work of beauty: The Horse of Jenin comes to Oslo Fringe. Bulldozers. A disappeared monument. A boy's imagination. One man's journey to rebuild a symbol of hope – in fragments, memories, and laughter. Shehada, a central figure The Palestine Comedy Club and graduate of Nobel Peace Prize nominated Freedom Theatre Acting School, grew up in Jenin, the West Bank, playing beneath a five-metre-high metal horse. Built from the wreckage of an Israeli incursion in 2002 by a visiting German artist and the children of Jenin, the sculpture stood in the centre of the refugee camp for 20 years as a beacon of imagination and resistance. In October 2023, the horse was bulldozed and taken away. Now, Shehada rebuilds it, on stage. This is not a didactic political play. It is a charming, poetic, often very funny journey through shifting theatrical forms – a whirlwind of comedy, storytelling, physical theatre and raw emotion that carries the audience with it, sometimes gently, sometimes at full gallop. A story of childhood games beneath drones, of first love under curfew, of a community whose humour outlives its grief. "Palestinians are so often portrayed as angry or tragic," says Shehada. "The Horse of Jenin is about a child who wants to play, a teenager dreaming of his first kiss. And a man, years later, wondering what happened to the symbol that gave him hope." Awards & praise: Fringe First Award (The Scotsman), Outstanding Show Award (Fringe Review), Outwith Award for International Talent, and named among The 10 Stand Out Shows of the Edinburgh Fringe by Rolling Stone. Credits: Written and performed by Alaa Shehada Co-written by Sam Beale Masks by Den Durand Music by Remy van Kesteren and Khalil Al Batran Dramaturgy by Maarten Bos Lighting Design by Lily Woodford-Lewis Production Photography by Kamerich & Budwilowitz and Harry Elletson Produced by Qasim Salam