Before Abu Qasai Qaddoura can begin acting, he has to find something to burn.
asserted
he → begin → something
At six in the morning, the 42-year-old walks to a stall in Sheikh Radwan, where his family has been displaced, to buy firewood.
asserted
family → walk → firewood
It costs seven shekels ($2) per kilogram.
asserted
It → cost → kilogram
When he cannot afford it, he scavenges for something else to burn – cardboard, plastic or pieces of wood salvaged from destroyed homes.
asserted
he → afford → homes
He lights a small fire so his family can keep warm and cook a meal.
asserted
family → light → meal
He then washes the black soot from his hands before leaving his home for rehearsal.
asserted
He → wash → rehearsal
The journey takes two hours on foot.
asserted
journey → take → foot
Qaddoura avoids a main road clogged with rubble and where he says Israeli gunfire poses a danger, taking side streets instead.
asserted
gunfire → avoid → streets
By the time he reaches the rehearsal space – a makeshift fabric-and-plastic tent pitched in the car park of Gaza City’s Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Centre, his knees hurt and he struggles to catch his breath.
asserted
he → reach → breath
“I arrive at the rehearsal.
asserted
I → arrive → rehearsal
I’m exhausted but immediately get to work because we don’t even have time for a short break,” he says.
asserted
he → ’m → break
Weary and quiet, Qaddoura sits slumped as he speaks, his hands resting heavily on his knees.
asserted
hands → sit → knees
On stage, he plays a doctor trapped inside a Gaza hospital.
asserted
he → play → hospital
The baby doll cradled in his arms is his character’s son.
asserted
doll → cradle → arms
He must amputate the child’s leg himself.
asserted
He → amputate → leg
The baby dies.
asserted
baby → die → ?
The scene is based on the real-life experience of a father in Gaza, whose video the actors have watched.
asserted
actors → base → video
Until now, Qaddoura had never acted.
asserted
Qaddoura → act → ?
Before the war, he worked behind the camera as a production manager and sound technician for local media companies.
asserted
he → work → companies
Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza destroyed his home in al-Tawam.
asserted
airstrikes → destroy → Tawam
Now he and his wife, along with their children – Ghazal, 15, Qusai, 12, and Sham, seven – live in a single room on the rooftop of a rented house, sheltered by a plastic tarp.
asserted
Ghazal → live → tarp
When he holds the child during rehearsal, the face he sees is not always the character’s son.
asserted
he → hold → rehearsal
“I wasn’t just playing a character; I was staring at my own children’s faces,” Qaddoura says.
asserted
Qaddoura → play → faces
“Every time I held that child on stage, terror gripped my heart that tomorrow this could be one of my own sons.
uncertain
this → hold → sons
I couldn’t stop the tears because the fear felt too real.”
asserted
fear → stop → tears
On stage, Qaddoura does not break character.
asserted
Qaddoura → break → character
He keeps holding the boy until director Ali Abu Yasin calls for them to stop.
asserted
them → keep → boy
Then he collapses into sobs, and the rehearsal stops.
asserted
rehearsal → collapse → sobs
For 15 minutes, Qaddoura sits quietly at the side of the stage, sipping water, uncertain whether he can perform it again.
asserted
he → sit → it
“I remembered my own children, and how a father could stand helpless and broken before his child’s wound,” he says afterward.
uncertain
he → remember → wound
Eventually Ali Abu Yasin, the play’s director, calls the actors back.
asserted
Yasin → call → actors
Qaddoura gets on his feet, takes his place and does it all again.
asserted
Qaddoura → get → it
Building a theatre
This is what Abu Yasin has asked his actors to do: take experiences they are already struggling to survive and turn them into theatre.
asserted
they → build → theatre
Abu Yasin speaks calmly and deliberately, even amid the chaos surrounding the production.
asserted
Yasin → speak → production
He has spent 37 years as an actor, playwright and director, training generations of performers in Gaza.
asserted
He → spend → Gaza
His productions have travelled beyond the enclave to countries including Egypt and Tunisia, where he won a best actor award at the Tunis International Theatre Festival.
asserted
he → travel → Festival
But the theatrical landscape he built his career on has been steadily disappearing.
asserted
he → build → career
Al-Mishal Cultural Centre was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in 2018.
asserted
Centre → destroy → 2018
The Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Centre in Gaza City was damaged in Israeli attacks in 2023.
asserted
Centre → damage → 2023
By March 2026, UNESCO had verified damage to 164 cultural sites in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including 128 buildings of historical or artistic interest.
asserted
UNESCO → verify → interest
…and 99 more, not listed.
The Aporia
