Hijra is a poetic and musical migration journey, searching for words that can weave a story on Eastern melodies. A journey from the Middle East to the West, the 'paradise beyond the mountains.' The grass always seems greener on the other side. All your life, you've heard stories about life beyond the mountains; those stories have become your dreams. You decide to go on a journey there, hoping to find this place and call it your homeland. To build a better future and hopefully ensure that your children can continue your story. The journey is not as smooth as the stories tell. Along the way, you are confronted with social, cultural, and political differences. Additionally, you fall ill, homesick. Not everything is as it seems. Indeed, the grass seems greener on the other side. Despite the challenges, you keep going, for your children, but you hope to return to your homeland someday.

Living in the West is a weight inherited from your parents. Every day, that life becomes heavier until it becomes unbearable. Are you living a life for yourself or for your parents? You find yourself in a between position between your parents, yourself, social expectations, and your future.

With the thought that you might one day return to the homeland, the first-generation immigrants from the Middle East may struggle to feel at home in the Netherlands or in the West, while their parents moved here precisely to create a better life. The performance discusses the fact that you're always searching for a better future in the West, and once you have it, you long for the homeland you left behind. As first-generation immigrants, you must be grateful for what you have, pursue a career, preserve culture and faith, all while experiencing the pressure from your parents and family. It's an intermediate position from which you'll never escape and one that every immigrant carries within them. The performance is a journey of every immigrant; after all, we're all immigrants in life seeking a better future. It can become a lonely journey amidst all these people."

Location
Netherlands

Year
2024 - 2025

Sponsors
Municipality Delft
Amarte Fonds

Role
Artist

Team
Abdel Karim el Baz
Riff Roozeboom 
Robin Pocornie
Emma Broholm
Manal Azizi 
Odai Krede 
Athitaya Sokklang 
Fares Wehbe 
Musa Leenen

Project
Theatre

Language
Arabic
Dutch

Themes
Social pressure
Family
Migration

Duration
30 min

Hijra Tour

Hijra is een poëtische en muzikale emigratiereis opzoek naar een nieuw thuisland. Een land waar dromen kunnen wortelen, groeien en geoogst kunnen worden. Het is een reis naar een land achter de bergen, waar het verleden wordt achtergelaten en heimwee niet bestaat.

هجرة هي رحلة هجرة شعرية وموسيقية بحثًا عن وطن جديد. بلد حيث يمكن للأحلام أن تنبت وتنمو وتُحصد. إنها رحلة إلى بلاد وراء الجبال، حيث يُترك الماضي خلف وحيث لا يوجد الحنين للوطن

Team


Oudail el Omari

Abdel Karim el Baz

Eline Riff Roozeboom 

Robin Pocornie

Emma Broholm

Manal Azizi 

Odai Krede 

Athitaya Sokklang 

Fares Wehbe 

Musa Leenen


Script & performance  

Directing

Production

Decor & light

Costume design

Sounddesign & music

Photography & Film

Tour

Theater de Veste 

Woonboot Oostpoort

Royal Delft Museum

Huis van Meerten Museum

Micro Theater

Micro Theater

Multicolor festival Amersfoort

Bibliotheek DOK Delft

Alle tijd festival

Itzinya festival Amersfoort

Amsterdam roots festival

Bibliotheek van tussen verhalen OBA Amsterdam

Iftar DOK Delft

Schouwburg Utrecht

Schouwburg Utrecht

Club Delft Festival

Mooiweer spelen

 28 May 2024

30 May 2024 ​​​​​​​

1 June 2024

2 June 2024

6 June 2024

8 June 2024

22 June 2024

11 July 2024

21 August 2024

24 August 2024

28 September 2024

21 November 2024

23 March 2025

18 June 2025

19 June 2025

6 September 2025

7 September 2025

Tour

Feature
Bibliotheek van tussenverhalen

The Library of In-Between Stories is an online library for youth professionals to help young people understand that if you can move between worlds, you possess a special strength. The library shows how young people do this. The Library of In-Between is a library of stories for young people and for professionals who work with them.

Education

Hijra was part of an educational program "Bij Jou en Bij Mij" at Kunst Centraal from 2023 to 2025 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The performance was adapted into an interactive educational lesson and included in their program at elementary schools in Soest and Nieuwegein. The program focused on cultural exchange and explored place of birth, culture, religion, and language. My performance presented a theatrical exchange of my Arabic culture, using language, food, and music as tools to interact with the class and to share my experience of migrating to a different country.

Sponsers

Previous
Previous

A story through frames

Next
Next

Bibliotheek van tussenverhalen Delft