In February Ben and his associate Allie Butler travelled to West Bank to train a group of emerging Palestinian theatre directors in Grid Iron’s technique of creating site-based work, on the principle of Listening To The Space. The project, supported by the British Council, took the form of practical exercises in the studio and on locations in Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Battir. We then made a selection of four directors who we then mentored to develop their ideas, both in Palestine and online. The directors chosen were Adnan Al Bobali, Faisal Abu Alhayjaa, Mirna Sakhleh and Faten Khoury. This led to the inaugural Bethlehem Site-Specific Theatre Festival which was a huge success. You can see some of the results in this short video:
