A SHOW at this year’s Celtic Connections featuring Scottish and Palestinian performers may need to be staged without key performers after three visa applications were rejected by the Home Office.
Bethlehem Calling – set to take place on January 25 as part of the festival – explores the devastating impact of war on young people through diaries written by teenage girls growing up in the West Bank during the second Intifada alongside present-day testimony.
The show is set to feature 16 performers – nine from Palestine and seven from Scotland.
Organisers behind the show have said that at least three Palestinian performers will be unable to travel to Scotland after having visa applications rejected.
The creative team issued the following statement in response to the decision: “We learned this week that three of our Palestinian performers have had their UK visa applications rejected.
“We are now concerned that more rejections will follow and urge the Home Office to reconsider.
“This is a high profile and hugely positive cultural exchange supported by Creative Scotland and Celtic Connections, bringing together a diverse group of theatre-makers and musicians from Palestine and Scotland at a time when it feels more important than ever to support Palestinian artists and amplify their voices and stories.
“While the show will very much go on as planned, we are disappointed that an ambitious and timely collaboration between Palestinian and Scottish artists has been impacted by decisions that seem frustratingly harsh.”
The creative team includes Palestinian actors and members of the Palestinian Arab Orthodox Scout pipers of Beit Jala, whose connection to Scotland dates back to the group’s formation in 1924.
The National has approached the Home Office for further comment.
The Beit Jala pipers’ sound and style draws from both the music of the region and from Scotland to create something “uniquely Palestinian” and new to “most Scottish audiences”.
Producer Zoe Hunter said: “The project has the ethos of Celtic Connections at its heart, providing a rich learning opportunity for all the musicians and actors, drawing on the diaspora of traditional and modern Scottish/Palestinian music and sounds and exploring how this has changed over time across oceans through a collaborative new composition and final performance.”
The show will incorporate verbatim performance into a music gig to tell of the first-hand experiences of teenage Palestinian girls living during the second Intifada (2000-2005) and also life in Bethlehem for young people right now.
