El-Manshiyyeh, by playwright Samer Al-Saber, ufolds through a simple, stripped-back theatrical language in which most physical elements are intentionally absent from the stage. This deliberate minimalism invites the audience to actively engage their imagination. Everyday actions — pouring coffee, opening a cupboard — are suggested through gesture rather than realistic depiction, creating space for personal memory and individual interpretation. The “cupboard” you picture may well resemble one from your own past, shaped by memory rather than material presence. Theater aficionados will find its style reminiscent of Thornton Wilder’s classic Our Town.

Rooted in the traditions of Palestinian storytelling, the play draws deeply from oral history and collective memory. Its emphasis on the body, voice, and gesture, rather than conventional realism, places it within a wider Palestinian theatrical lineage—one that foregrounds imagination and honours the unseen connections between past and present. In this way, the performance becomes not just something to watch, but something to complete through recollection and feeling.

The intangible heritage of El-Manshiyyeh neighbourhood in Jaffa pulses through every aspect of the work: its language and dialect, its references to food and daily rituals, its folk stories, and the rhythms embedded in its speech. These elements conjure a vivid cultural landscape, one that has been carried across generations through lived experience and shared narrative. The stage becomes a meeting point for memory and imagination, where fragments of the past are reassembled in the present moment. Co-directed by Marina Johnson and Samer Al-Saber, the play asks two central questions: will El-Manshiyyeh survive 1948, and what will the future hold for its people?

The play stars some of Palestine’s most beloved performers: Hosam Abu Esheh, Shaden Saleem, Firas Farrah, Yasmin Shalaldeh, Mohammad Basha, Fatima Abu Alul, and Ezzat El- Natsheh. After an incredible run in Palestine, El-Hakawati and Pal-Arts bring this gem of a performance to London, allowing the name El-Manshiyyeh to echo beyond borders. Through its understated form and rich emotional texture, El-Manshiyya offers more than a performance. It extends an invitation—to remember, to imagine, and to reconnect with histories that continue to live within us.

Part of PalArt Festival 2026, PalArt Collective’s multidisciplinary celebration of Palestinian arts and culture.

A Q&A will take place after the 2:30pm performance on Saturday 26th September.