You gotta laugh, or cry
Laughter in tragedy is a special genre of showbusiness. Palestinians are good at it. They are known for their sardonic reactions to the troubles they have to face. A group of half a dozen men and women went professional and formed a group called the Palestine Comedy Club that toured Palestine and Israel; never forget that 20 per cent of Israelis are Palestinian and comedian Hanna Shammas is from Haifa, Israel.
They got together with English producer Sam Beale to make a show that opened in Jenin in the West Bank, played in other occupied towns and in Haifa, then toured to Amsterdam and eventually London.
They then told their story in a film, which is called Palestine Comedy Club. It has been showing at venues around England, and the group itself will be playing live in London in June.
At least, those who are able to leave Palestine and get UK visas will be performing, because the hardest work facing the group is not making people laugh but navigating the Israeli-imposed restrictions on their movement. Road blocks and regulations within the West Bank are routine; permission to enter Israel is often hard to get; and access to Gaza is impossible. There is no one from Gaza in the group, because although there are some funny people there, Israel won’t let them out.
One of the funniest passages in the film is the dialogue of desperate hope as they sit in their minibus waiting for hours for their leader, Alaa Shehada from Jenin, to get through the checkpoint into Israel for their gig in Haifa. And one of the most tragic is when Shehada, returning from a tour, goes back to Jenin’s famous Freedom Theatre to find the place has been vandalised by Israeli forces.
Palestine Comedy Club will be playing live at the Rix Mix in London’s Bethnal Green Road on June 6 and 7.
