“DEADLIFT”

Suleiman Mansour
Born in 1947 in Birzeit, Palestine, Mansour studied fine art at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. Mansour has tailored his comprehensive portfolio around the Palestinian struggle as he was absorbed during the first years of his career with the Palestinian identity drawing inspiration from old cultures of the area, Palestinian folk culture and landscape in Palestine. His recent work is centered on the individual figure to convey the different states of exhausting anticipation or loss and pain, resulting from his experience of living under the occupation.
Mansour has received numerous awards in recognition of his achievements. Notably, Mansour received the Palestine Prize for the Visual Arts in 1998, the grand prize in the Cairo Biennial in 1998, the UNESCO-Sharjah prize for Arab culture in 2019, Necip Fazil award 2025 and The Nile Award for Arab Creators 2025. Mansour’s work has been shown and collected by many museums, including The British Museum, UK, Arab Museum of Modern Arts, Qatar, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Barjeel Art Foundation, UAE, Jordanian museum and Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, Jordan and Institut du Monde Arabe, France.

A Word from the Director
It is impossible to write a synopsis for this performance. It simply cannot be done.
I write these words as Bashar Murkus, the creator of this work, after being commissioned by Al-Harah Theater, in partnership with Boy Jonkergouw Producties, with a remarkable mission: to create a theatrical piece in dialogue with the works of Palestinian painter Suleiman Mansour. I was to begin with his painting Camel of Hardships—a portrait of a porter carrying an entire city on his back. A painting that disappeared and Mansour had to repaint it.
No sooner had I agreed to the project than the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation against Gaza —erupted once again, and it continues unabated as I write these words. What city do we carry in this performance, when our cities are being erased and our souls collapse with them? How can we embody a porter who endures the burden while our people die and we stand by, merely watching?
In this visual performance, I place my outcry, my shame, my fear, and my questions. What does the rubble teach us?

“DEADLIFT”
Conceived Visualized and directed by: Bashar Murkus
Performers: Ehab Abed | Wajdi Khalid | Reem Talhami | Nicola Zreineh
Director Assistant: Hadeel Khatib
Scenography: Nancy Mkaabal | Bashar Murkus
Music: Wouter de Belder
Light Design: Bart Verzellenberg
Technical Direction & Set Production: Issam Rishmawi
Light Technician: Firas Abu Sabbah
Production Manager: George Matar
Financial Management: Micheal Atallah
Producers: Marina Bsarham | Boy Jonkergouw
Produced by: Al-Harah Theater 2025
In partnership with: Boy Jonkergouw Producties & Riksteatern
Funded by: AFAC | The Danish House in Palestine | Riksteatern | The Palestinian Cultural Fund