December 2011, Pages 57-58

Music & Arts

"Tennis in Nablus" Revives the Arab Revolt

"As a Palestinian-American playwright," says Ismail Khalidi, "I am deeply committed to challenging the myths and distortions about Palestinians that abound in American discourse." That's just one of Khalidi's goals in his award-winning play "Tennis in Nablus," which enjoyed a successful run Sept. 7 to 25 at Stageworks Hudson, in New York's mid-Hudson Valley. He also dramatizes a Palestinian cry for independence that never recovered from its defeat in the 1936-'39 Arab Revolt.

In the crucial years from 1917 to 1947 that preceded the birth of Israel, British colonialists fueled ethnic hatred by promising the land to both indigenous Arabs and Jewish immigrants. Khalidi, 29, shows that the British used the same brutal tactics against Arab rebels that they'd used to smash popular revolts in India, Ireland and elsewhere. According to director Laura Margolis, "Ismail calls his play a 'tragipoliticomedy.' I just call it brilliant."

Prior to its East Coast premiere this fall, "Tennis in Nablus" had earned its author the 2009 Kendeda Playwriting Prize, the Quest for Peace Award from the Kennedy Center (ACTF), and a second-place prize for the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Award for Comic Playwriting (ACTF). Khalidi, who lives in Brooklyn, NY, says he wants to debunk the stereotype of Palestinians as "violent, barbaric, and inherently anti-Semitic opponents of modernity."

"Tennis in Nablus" takes place in the spring of 1939 as Arab nationalists make a dying attempt to drive the British out. They are being shot in the street or arrested and tortured while their rulers plan their next costume ball. Lieutenant Duff models his tennis whites; General Falbour can't decide between Zulu war paint or a Nazi uniform.

As the play begins, we see how this conflict is tearing apart the Al Qudsi family. Yusef is fighting for independence, his nephew for the best business deal he can get from the Brits or Zionists. But when the two are forced to share a jail cell, Tariq, the "rational nationalist," quickly realizes that to his governors he's just a dirty Arab who can be ordered to fetch their tennis balls. This shock brings him closer to his uncle, who has blamed Tariq for wanting to sell the family land. "We'll be the foreigners soon enough in Palestine," Yusef warns his nephew. "I was forced to steal an orange from my own orange grove."

A second theme Khalidi brings to light—with hilarious effect—is the natural empathy the British soldiers O'Donegal and Rajib have for their Arab prisoners. In an early scene O'Donegal and his captive Yusef trade ethnic slurs, then laugh and say "touché." Equally revealing is a scene in which Samuel Hirsch, an idealistic Jew, overhears General Falbour and his subordinate Duff eviscerating Jews. Undeterred, Hirsch presses them to act quickly to stop Hitler's aggression.

In the end Tariq's real estate deal goes up in smoke, but before he escapes to Beirut, he gives his Aunt Anbara keys to the family house. The play closes on a somber note as Yusef's wife faces an uncertain future.

Stageworks' production starred Nasser Faris—a veteran of TV, stage and film—as the oud player turned rebel Yusef Al Qudsi. Maria Silverman played his wife, Anbara, a journalist and freedom fighter modeled on feminist organizer Tarab Abdul Hadi. Yusef's nephew and British collaborator Tariq Al Qudsi was played by Fajer Al-Kaisi. Chet Carlin took on the roles of both the goose-stepping general and vegetable peddler Hajj Waleed, whose eggplants conceal rifles. Matt Falber mimed a flawless British accent as the priggish Lieutenant Duff, while Christopher Smith unpacked the complexities of Samuel Hirsch.

"Tennis in Nablus" draws on a history in which Khalidi's family has a very personal stake. "The Khalidis are an old Jerusalem family," explains the playwright. "Records of their presence in the city date to the 12th or 13th century." Ismail himself was named for his paternal grandfather, a U.N. official. His father is Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University's Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies. Khalidi said he hopes to see a New York City production in the near future. For information see <www.stageworkshudson.org>.

—Lisa Mullenneaux