Friends of the Freedom Theatre in Ireland launches in Dublin in support of Palestinian arts centre

A new cultural organisation has launched at Dublin's Project Arts Centre in solidarity with The Freedom Theatre, a Palestinian arts centre based in the Jenin Refugee Camp.

Friends of the Freedom Theatre in Ireland (FFT Ireland) aims to support Palestinian artists, create partnerships with Irish cultural institutions and help facilitate the work of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin.

According to The Freedom Theatre website, its original home in the Jenin Refugee Camp has been destroyed by the Israeli army. The Theatre continues to tour productions with the support of several partner associations around the world, including in Scotland, the UK and France.

FFT Ireland is the Theatre's newest partner association. The organisation is led by Palestinian-Irish artist Gráinnemir Abualrob (a graduate of The Freedom Theatre) and Irish artist Sorcha Fox as co-artistic directors. Actress Neilí Conroy serves as chairperson.

The organisation is staffed by a variety of artists and activists, including Grace Dyas, Fatin Al Tamimi, Marcela Parducci, Veronica Dyas, Donal Kelly and Clara Purcell.

Conroy and Abualrob spoke at the launch event alongside poet and Global Sumud Flotilla activist Sarah Clancy.

Fox, Kelly and Veronica Dyas read out poems at the event, while Donegal actor Lórcan Strain performed as their drag persona, Marian Mary the 6th.

The launch event ended with a set by Co. Clare musician Tara Baoth Mooney and her experimental band Rún.

 

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The organisation is set to host a Freedom Theatre production, Return to Palestine, in 2026 with funding from Arts Council Ireland.

"This powerful production weaves together real stories from across Palestine - created through the freedom theatre’s own methodology with an all-Palestinian cast," said The Freedom Theatre in an Instagram post.

"The Theatre and Jenin camp cannot be destroyed. It lives on in its people, in their stories, in their refusal to be silenced. And now, it travels to Ireland- carried by the artists who embody its spirit, the stories that refuse to die, and the imagination that remains a territory of resistance.

"The occupation cannot take away the will to create, to gather, to tell our stories, to exist fully and joyfully in defiance of erasure."

 

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