This is a remarkable production based on an outstanding script that uses poetic expression to contain and express the most powerful range of emotions surrounding the current situation in Gaza. The play avoids any temptation to lecture or declaim its point of view, or seek naturalist representation, however justified that is – instead it uses magic realism and psychological surreal drama of two Palestinians Marwan (Rachid Taki), his daughter Rozan (Ala’a Al- Qaisi) and the Man (Mohammed El kesm), and two Israeli counterparts Sarah (Ahlam Hijazi) and Aviv (also Mohammed El kesm).
The dialogue is refreshing and absorbing to experience – there is a startling format to style and narrative going on, that gives disciplined but moving reflection on death, war, the afterlife, grief, religion, redemption and hope. Most important is the resurrection or return of Rozan, who was killed in the conflict, to her father. This primary narrative, of a father grieving and waiting for her daughter, becomes a trope for the pain of Palestinian people generally, and more widely a hope for return of their traditional land lost with the formation of Israel.
Politically the play is tougher than it might otherwise be. Tragedy is dignified and intensified wrapped in a journey of dream, reality, hope and despair by Marwan and Rozan. The literary conceit of grief – of a man waiting under clouds for the contact with and return with the dead daughter, is poised on an act of religious faith and hope. But can any experience or hope overcome the chasm of loss that the war has caused? Because of its literary format play is able to convey a loss beyond its character – a sense of collective loss of a people. The script is a poetic triumph – elegant, articulate and quotable. Like a Greek tragedy that might well have inspired it, it gives dignity to the raw emotion it portrays.
At the play’s opening we hear the father Marwan yearning for his daughter.
“My little cloud, come down to me…
Cloud of goodness and blessing, come down so I may take you in my arms.”
Not long after The Man replies to Marwan
“I have a daughter myself, and the thought of losing her terrifies me.
It makes my guts shrink as though they’d devour me.
like a snake swallowing its own tail, dying as it eats…”
When Rozan first returns she speaks of
“our breath leaving our chests, becoming sound.
Language is paralysed.
All I can say is that I saw the Light. And then language collapses again,
for I cannot explain this Light.”
The play is an important and desperately needed voice for our times, whereby Palestinian’s own voices, omitted from western media, can be heard. How will this situation be redeemed? In the end the return ends with a second killing of Rozan, yet the seeds of possible restoration have been planted.
Ala’a Al- Qaisi was elegant, seamless in grace under fire as Rozan. Rachid Taki was poignant in portrayal of Marwan. Mohammed El kesm played the man counterfoil to Marwan, while Mohammed El kesm and Ahlam Hijazi played the Israeli couple Aviv and Sarah. Some extra thought could be given for staging and voice to ensure all the language can be clearly heard.
It was a privilege to attend and encounter this accomplished and authentic work – it is in its own way already a classic.
Written and directed by Ala’a Al- Qaisi
Sydney Greek Theatre Marrickville
The Return Project and the Sydney Fringe
September 3 2026
