Bearing witness through theatre: Andrea Pagnes in conversation with Mustafa Sheta, general manager and producer of The Freedom Theatre, Jenin

This interview with Mustafa Sheta, general manager of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp, explores theatre as a form of survival and resistance amid occupation and genocide. For Sheta, theatre is not merely a metaphor. It embodies muscle, memory and movement. Rehearsals take place beneath drones. Performances endure amidst rubble. Every spoken word – poetry resists being erased. The Freedom Theatre functions as both a sanctuary and a cultural weapon – a space for creativity, healing and vision. It is a frontline where cultural resistance challenges silence and oppression. Mustafa Sheta brings us to reflect on grief as an ongoing process, wounds and scars becoming an expression of both uprising and tenderness, the passing of memory through generations, and the importance of global solidarity in amplifying Palestinian voices against colonial arrogance. Theatre, he highlights, acts as a counter-archive that preserves truth, dignity and hope when official narratives and political frameworks falter. Performance arises as a device for testimony, defiance and daring dreaming: a delicate yet vital act that affirms Palestinians’ unbeatable endurance to continue existence and resistance to envision alternative futures.