A Paisley author and peace activist is appealing for help to bring his anti-war play to life.
Alex Cathcart, a member of Paisley for Palestine, has penned a play about the shared human experience of war, the terror experienced by families on all sides and human resilience.
The play focuses on two young couples, one based in the Jewish Warsaw ghetto in the 1940s and the other based in present-day Gaza. Both have a baby.
Alex, who is looking for a cast and production crew to stage the play, says he wants to show that the terror experienced by civilians is just the same the world over.
He said: “The idea is to show that the reality of terror when it is applied by inhumane people, whether it be as it was in the ghettos under the Nazis or the current day situation in Gaza.
“It’s brutal and, for the people on the ground, the terror, the fear is the same; they are universal emotions. It’s above all an anti-war play that asks how we as humans can do this to one another.”
The shared experience will be depicted on a stage which will be split in two. On one side there will be Moris, a cabinet maker, and his wife Ana in Warsaw. On the other side will be Faiz and his wife Ena in present-day Gaza.
Lighting will be used to focus on each setting when the story of the 1940s and 2024 are told.
Alex added: “In the Warsaw ghetto, Jews were walled in and that is similar to Gaza in that the people are walled in between Israel, the sea and Egypt.
“There are similarities between the couples in that they are both young couples with a child experiencing the terror of what’s going on around them.
“There will be people who say you cannot compare the two but the aim is to show that for the people on the ground, the individual experience is the same.”
Historian Alex, a former lecturer, has drawn on diaries and pieces of writing from those who were in the ghetto in Warsaw and those who currently live in Gaza to inform the play.
The diaries, letters and modern-day emails record what is happening to people as it is going on and their feelings about it. The language and terminology used by both are, Alex says, “remarkably similar”.
Alex is now hoping to stage his play at Paisley Arts Centre with the support of his friends at Paisley for Palestine and volunteers.
He is hoping the play will appeal to actors keen to share the anti-war message and local performers.
He added: “It’s ambitious but I’m hoping there will be people out there with experience, theatre groups and the like, that are passionate about the subject matter and we can deliver this in a way that encourages the audience to think about the content.”
Performers and theatre professionals who could lend their skill to the project should email Alex at [email protected]
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