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A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

Published on 2008-03-16 17:35:00

Sandrine Brunner is the director of a troupe named ‘les Planches et les Nuages’ (Stage boards and Clouds). She has adapted and directed « A Bottle in the Gaza Sea », a novel written by Valérie Zenatti. This play was performed in Paris last October and dealt with the correspondence between an Israeli girl and a young Palestinian during the second Intifada. 

 

The novel

"A Bottle in the Gaza Sea" is a novel based on an internet correspondence between two teenagers. The author dates the correspondence to 2003-2004, the middle of the second Intifada. Tal, a young girl in Jerusalem, refuses to grow up or grow older. She looks at all the hate around her, hate that never stops. Full of hope, she decides she wants to connect up with "the other side". Her brother is in the army in Gaza. She gives him a bottle and asks him to throw it into the sea. Naïm, a young Palestinian, gets the message. This is the beginning of an unusual relationship that, with time, becomes more intense and takes a vital turn for both of them.

 The author

Valérie Zenatti was born in Nice in 1970 in a Jewish family. When she was 13 her family moved to Beer-Sheva. At 18, she did her national service, like all Israeli girls and boys of her age. Back it France, she studied history and Hebrew and became a teacher. Since 1999, Valérie Zenatti has been writing children's book and is translating a book by Aaron Appelfeld, an Israeli writer. "When I was a Soldier" (2002) is a book in which she tells about her experiences in the Israeli army. It has received several awards and has been translated into several languages. She has just published her first novel for adults "En retard pour la guerre" (Late for the War), Olivier Publishers. It will soon be turned into a film.

"A Bottle in the Gaza Sea" was awarded the 2005 Tam Tam "Je bouquine" prize in the children's books category, and the 12/14 prize at the Brive (France) book fair that same year. 

The adaptation

The novel focuses on s between Tal and Naïm, their personal thoughts about each other and their daily lives, somewhat like a diary. A more direct discussion takes place through an Internet chat group.

In the stage adaptation, these three elements are clearly shown. The emails they write are turned into real time discussion so that the actors don't stay stolidly behind their screen and also to show that a relation is being developed beyond physical borders. Their personal thoughts are addressed straight to the public.

Throughout the novel, going beyond the conflict that upsets his daily life, Tal talks about her life as a teen-ager, her feelings and interests: first boyfriends, her girlfriends, heartbreaks, relations with her teachers, etc.

In the theatre play, this information has been omitted. The actors, rather than the contents of the emails, show the adolescents' state of mind, zooming in on their discussions of the conflict and its immediate consequences in the life of these two people. 

The intention

The novel ends with a promise that Naïm makes to meet Tal in Rome at the Trevi fountain in September 2007. I decided to begin and to end the story with the meeting scheduled for four years later.
At the beginning of the show, the two protagonists are on the stage, facing the public, without being able to see each other. Naïm is the first one to tell his story, confidentially, to the public.
The scene soon moves to the Middle East, to the email contacts.
By the end of the show, the scene has returned to Rome where both Naïm and Tal are. Will they get together, will they recognise each other? The audience can decide for itself.

Reading the book by Valerie Zenatti woke up my dulled memory of this conflict although the radio, TV, newspapers constantly give us the latest news. Somehow the screen protects us from this distant, sad situation. We even may forget that this is the daily life of a whole population. We almost get used to this living tragedy and get somewhat impatient with too much news from "over there".
I thought it would be interesting to use the theatre to look at these events from a different angle, to put the conflict at the centre of our concerns using a different media. The story shows us two adolescents' questions and hopes in the middle of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict. What is their life like? What room is there for hope? How do they absorb the unrelenting daily pressure between two people? A discussion between adults may quickly have led to statements on personal positions, but Tal and Naïm project us into their world of young people who are growing up and older, and refuse to let the war, that has been imposed on them, last forever.
The fact that the actors are almost still children makes the reader, and thus the audience more sensitive to this dark page of current life.
To involve the audience in the complexity of their lives, the actors often speak direct to the public, confide in them, explain their life, express their hopes and desires. The spectator at times is given two different perceptions of the same event.

By throwing a bottle in the sea, Tal uses an unusual, old-fashioned means of communication. Yet for her, in her environment, this seems like the most reliable solution and the least risky if she wants to dare initiate contact with someone on "the other side". She is fortunate that someone finds the bottle. At that point the exchange of emails, the most modern channel of communication today, takes over. She proves that all possible methods must be used to break the circle of violence, hate and indifference. Her survival instinct is what pushes her to act this way. She needs to know that she is not surrounded by enemies. She wants to prove that there is no border in the world that people cannot cross. She wants to show that two individuals at their personal level, despite the conflict between their people, can decide to meet and start a genuine dialogue. Tal is giving us, first and foremost, a message of hope.

I also want to show the public a decor unlike what they usually see. The Middle East cannot be reflected by the media's habitual red and black images. The Middle East is also a source of beautiful images, beautiful music. This is what Tal and Naïm want to show the public. They want to show the lands beyond the conflict, what the country means to them, the reasons why they want to fight for their country. I decided to show this aspect through visual and sound projections.
As Naïm says again and again, it is really painful to live with the unrelenting noise of ambulances in the streets, demonstrations, airplanes and helicopter patrolling over our heads. Fortunately there are other sounds, other music that he can cling to, that allow him to escape. Tal dreams of making films. She adores her city, Jerusalem, and travels through it with her father's camera in an effort to make a documentary.
These are two ways of living in the Middle East that I want to share with the audience, and the preferred media in the presentation are sound and image.

The cast

Tal is a happy 17-year old, full of life and plans for the future. She dreams of making a film some day. Her optimism fills her with hope but, in the beginning, irritates Naïm. He thinks it is exaggerated and naive. Tal seems to be very fragile. She can't accept the idea of living, growing old and dying without having anything around her change.Naïm is 20 years old. He is a very private person. He tell his internet-pal learn much about himself. He almost gives the impression that he is using her as a scapegoat. He pours out his anger and sense of rebellion on her. His feelings gradually become clearer and the situation takes a reverse turn. After experiencing violence, Tal loses hope and gradually withdraws into herself. At that point Naim becomes optimistic and encourages her to fight, to keep dreaming, despite it all.

The decor

A "cyclo" is placed at the back of the scene, in the middle. He spreads pictures of Tal's environment, several pictures of Jerusalem and a few historical pictures of the conflict. This part of the scene also refers to the screen. The audience can vaguely see Tal and Naïm behind the screen as they express their rebelliousness and get to know each other. It also has space space for the message that the two actors write to each other.

The scene is completely empty except for the two actors, a bench, music and lights. The music varies between traditional and more modern, gentle and very violent depending on what happens between the two people and in their environment. It stays as close as possible to the music and sounds of the Middle East. The lighting is very cold at certain times, during the email contacts, much warmer and intimate when thoughts and secrets are being shared.

The actors

Flavie Dony, actress who played Tal
Jean-Christopher Barro, actor who played Naïm
Sandrine Brunner, producer, theater adaptation

The company

Les Planches et les Nuages

Use the theatre to talk about reality or give time for respite, or simply to set foot in reality, see its many shades and dream about it.
The planches (stage boards), alludes to daily life, to the play that is selected, to the team's work, to the stage filled with actors.
The nuages (clouds) are a symbol of evasion, dream, creativity, advanced subjectivity on the scene.

CONTACT

Sandrine Brunner, producer and manager
133, rue de Lourmel
75015 Paris

Tel 33 (0)1 45 54 31 38
33 (0)6 72 79 21 39
sandrine.brunner@cegetel.net

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