Nir Paldi of Theatre Ad Infinitum, in his own words

Ballad of the Burning Star (premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe 2013) deals with my generation of Israelis who were born into the reality of the occupation. This project is something that has been brewing in my mind for years. When I finished my military service at the age of 22 I left Israel for Paris to study at the Lecoq School. In a way, leaving Israel and becoming an independent adult correlated.

Leaving Israel gave me a new perspective and a freedom of thought that was difficult to find while I was there. A lot of things about the politics, history and the Israeli / Jewish narrative suddenly started looking very different. I wanted to find a way of giving a theatrical form to this new perspective. The research for Ballad of the Burning Star started almost three years ago when George (Mann) and I went into a rehearsal space for six weeks in 2010. We spent most of the time talking about memories from my life, my family history and Jewish / Israeli history.

Theatre Ad Infinitum’s co-director George Mann and I were both overwhelmed by the enormous sadness, anger and confusion I carried with regards to my national, cultural and religious identity. We realised that this project hits me very close to home and that I’d need time to find some distance in order to give it a universal and accessible theatrical form.

In the months that followed these six weeks I was doing a lot of thinking: I first thought of performing the show in drag with an all-female chorus whilst travelling in India in 2011. George and I were on a train. At one of the stations a cross dresser came on the train and started performing a strange routine – she was fiercely clapping her hands together by the ears of the passengers shocking them with the sound. The passengers would then either give her some money and she would touch their heads, or ignore her and then she’d look into their eyes and whisper quickly looking like she was cursing them. Apparently there’s a special caste for men who dress like women; they live together in groups and make their living by begging or selling their bodies. This is when I first had the idea of using drag for Ballad. A man dressed as a woman, a man that does all he can to expose his softer, rounder less offensive ‘feminine’ sides. I thought that this was a good metaphor for the complexity of the situation in the Middle East, where the absolute truth has so many forms and it is hard to grasp. It would also function as a mask – a sort of alter ego from which to tell the stories: a woman occupying a man’s body.

In order to explore the tension between collective and personal consciousness I realised I would need to have more people on stage with this character that was starting to come together. Some people with whom she could play power games and fight over territory. In turn they could take their revenge and do the same to her.

I identified a sort of a ‘political triangle’: the audience, the drag queen and her backing-singers.

The idea to use only female performers came from the thought that it would further emphasise the complexity of the situation. As an audience we watch a man (although dressed as a woman) controlling five women, which sets alarm bells in any liberal mind, and we start hating him a bit; but at the same time he/she is very entertaining and outrageous so we can’t stop watching. This reminded me of the relationship Israel has with Palestine, and the rest of the world.

I have finally identified three parallel narratives: the personal story of the main character and his family, the historical Jewish / Israeli events occurring over time, and the story of the cabaret troupe who are telling these stories. It’s taken just over three years to make it, but I’m excited to finally say that Ballad of the Burning Star is now ready to open.

Meanwhile, we have continued to tour Translunar Paradise. We just got back from a three month tour in Brazil. We’ve been to Rio, Sao Paulo and Brasilia. It was an incredible experience. We will be touring Translunar in the autumn around the UK, Norway and Brazil again. We will be travelling to Non-Stop Festival in Moss, Norway to perform Translunar Paradise and Ballad of the Burning Star on 20 & 21 September. Translunar Paradise is touring the UK this autumn, dates and venues will be announced very soon!

And we will soon start working on a new non-verbal piece commissioned by the London International Mime Festival (LIMF) that George will direct/write – to premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014, with a London premiere at LIMF in January 2015. The current working title is Dis\Connections and it will focus on the connections and disconnections that occur between deaf and hearing communities in our society.

We’re trying to find a physical theatrical style/language that connects deaf and hearing audiences, who might ordinarily struggle to communicate, through a common language they never realised they even shared: the body. We began researching / developing some ideas in June this year and it’s looking very exciting.

Ballad of the Burning Star is at Pleasance Queen Dome (venue 23) 31 July – 26 Aug 2013 (except 13 & 20) @17.15. For tickets see here, and for more information on Theatre Ad Infinitum see here. Nir Paldi was interviewed by Dorothy Max Prior, by email, July 2013.