University News Last updated 23 August
A show created and performed by recent Acting graduates has been described by British Theatre Guide as “one of the most important plays of this year’s Edinburgh Festival”.
Rebels and Patriots is showing at the Pleasance Courtyard Edinburgh until Monday 26 August.
This British-Israeli-Palestinian co-production, which is written and performed by graduate Nadav Burstein, and features performances from fellow graduates Tom Dalrymple and Harvey Schorah, follows four friends conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the consequences on their lives.
The show is a raw, multilingual, physical portrayal that exposes the impacts that army life has on the mental health of the teenagers enlisted. It explores themes including protest against war, self-harm, and what it means to be Israeli and peace-pursuing.
The show was also featured on Radio 4 arts programme Front Row with Kirsty Wark.
Vice Principal (Acting) Professor Stephen Simms said: “I’m so thrilled to see our actors making their own work and it being recognised at a national level. You can catch this show, which has received a lot of attention and praise, in Edinburgh until Monday. Once their run ends, it would be amazing if we could bring the show to RBC’s Lab, so that our students can see it too.”
Nadav said: "Rebels and Patriots started as diary entries during my time in the IDF and is based around my experiences and those of my closest friends in mandatory army conscription. The play’s artistic genesis started when I moved to train at the Conservatoire, after realising the dramaturgical value of my experiences.
“Creating the piece here in the UK to an English-speaking audience was with the hope to offer people perspective on a complicated reality that they read so much about. I wanted to tell a story not about patriots, or about rebels, but really, about people who are neither. It’s about young men who want to live peacefully in an impossible, violent reality."
What the critics say:
- The Scotsman ★★★★
- British Theatre Guide ★★★★★
- Jewish Renaissance ★★★★★