Famous Palestinian novel brought on stage with traditional dance

RAMALLAH, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- A story of Palestinian author Ibrahim Nasrallah's novel Time of White Horses, which reveals a significant historical moment right before the British mandate ruled Palestine in 1917, has been brought on stage with traditional dance.

The preparation for the work, between a 39-year-old traditional dance troupe and the Palestinian popular theater, lasted almost a year, and won full-house applause on the first two nights of the performance.

Fathi Abdelrahman, the director and scenarist of the show, said the work advocates the value of "holding dear collaboration to confront aggression and systematic obscurantism" which the Palestinian people have been suffering, from the last years of the Ottoman rule until the current Israeli occupation.

"The work interacts with an important point of our history, which is often untold," he said, pointing out that the play focuses on a woman who breaks the traditional social shackles by asking a man to marry her.

The play starts off with scenes riddled with despair and poverty, which then spark a political movement against locally appointed town chiefs who fawn upon the greedy compradors of the regime.

The world-famous novel by Nasrallah, finished after two decades of research, is a widely regarded as a rich witness to the "Palestinian tragicomedy."

The story is set in a Palestinian village, and shows the change in landscape and socio political movement along with the gradual appearance of the British forces.

The musical composition was "innovative, and given the limited capabilities of the Palestinian theater, the work was nice," said 53-year-old Manal Shreim, who works as a director of local women micro-financing association.

"It gave a ray of hope despite continued struggle," she added. Enditem