Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín

Intentionally held on the cusp of Imbolc, the season of new growth in the Celtic calendar, Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín is a curated week of celebrating cultural resistance at Project Arts Centre headlined by ‘Return to Palestine’ co-produced with Dublin Theatre Festival and The Freedom Theatre Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestine, funded by The Arts Council of Ireland.

Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín is a curated week celebrating cultural resistance at Project Arts Centre headlined by ‘Return to Palestine’, marking the legendary Freedom Theatre’s first ever performance in Ireland. Featuring a New Visual Art process by Tuqa Al-Sarraj with Fatin Al Tamimi, staging the award winning Palestine: Peace de Resistance by Sami Abu Wardeh, with writer, director and founder of Pal Art Collective, Ahmed Masoud in conversation with playwright, actor and activist Donal O’Kelly, followed by live music from experimental Irish  musician Dunny,  and,  the exquisite contemporary music of Ahmed Eid, closing the week, Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín will be a landmark cultural and political event bringing artists, audiences, and activists into collective conversation about freedom, occupation, resistance, and the power of art to speak across borders.

This unique week of engagement at Project Arts Centre is an opportunity for audiences in Ireland to engage deeply with Palestinian art, and visions, a way to create a temporal state built with music, words, expression through our bodies and laughter. Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín will be a landmark cultural and political event — one that roots international solidarity in lived experience, artistic excellence, and radical care. It will bring artists, audiences, and activists into collective conversation about freedom, occupation, resistance, and the power of art to speak across borders.

See below for the full event programme and the full workshop programme.

Tickets €20/18 | Space Upstairs

Festival ticket (all 4 events): €65*

*Please note that workshops are not included in the full festival ticket price. Full festival ticket includes the four performance events in the Space Upstairs which are Palestine: Peace de Resistance by Sami Abu Wardeh, Return to Palestine, A Critical Conversation on Active Resistance with Ahmed Masoud and Ahmed Eid.

26 & 27 January

€20/18 | Space Upstairs

Festival ticket (all 4 events): €65

Fresh from winning awards and critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe and in London, Sami Abu Wardeh’s hit show blends resistance, identity, and ‘defiantly goofy’ comedy (★★★★ The Guardian). Can resistance be funny? Come find out. You can run from resistance, but it will always catch up with you – as Sami Abu Wardeh finds out in his critically acclaimed show, fresh from winning a Bestie Award and Mervyn Stutter’s Spirit of the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This is comedy where silliness collides with survival. Expect an open call for mass civil disobedience, equitable distribution of hand puppets, and some of the silliest faces you’ll ever see. As a Palestinian born in exile, only to be displaced from his country of birth by yet another war, Sami digs deep into his ties to resistance and Palestinian identity. What emerges is bold, playful and utterly original: a show that asks whether resistance can be funny, and answers with laughter. 

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28, 29 & 31 January

€20/18 | Space Upstairs

Festival ticket (all 4 events): €65

Return to Palestine centres around Jad, a Palestinian born in America, who goes to Palestine for the first time in his life. Wanting to know more about his people and identity, he finds out that reality is very different from what he has seen in the news. Return to Palestine is directed by Micaela Miranda and devised together with the ensemble of Graduate actors from The Freedom Theatre School in Jenin. It was created after extensive story-gathering through playback theatre with the communities engaged in The Freedom Theatre’s annual Freedom Ride. The play includes stories from Jenin refugee camp and city, Fasayel, Dheisheh refugee camp, Mufaqara and Jabalia Camp in Gaza. In a sarcastic, comic and tragic style, the actors create the space, characters and even the emotional spaces they live in, with skilled play with their bodies in a very small stage – “as small as Palestine”.

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30 January

€20/18 | Space Upstairs

Festival ticket (all 4 events): €65

Cairde Amharclann na Saoirse, in Éirinn invite you to A Critical Conversation on Active Resistance with Ahmed Masoud, writer, director and founder of PalArt Collective.

The conversation is hosted by playwright, actor and activist Dónal O’Kelly, with members of the company. Followed by live contemporary Irish music from Dunny, this event brings artists, audiences, and activists together into collective conversation about freedom, occupation, cultural resistance, and what active resistance means in this moment.

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31 January

€20/18 | Space Upstairs

Festival ticket (all 4 events): €65

Ahmed Eid is one of the most impactful Palestinian artists of his generation. His music tells stories of origin, resistance, hope, and freedom; tales he brings to life with his distinctive musical language. In his solo debut EP “Aghani Akhira” أغاني أخيرة (Last Songs), he opened a new chapter in 2024 and has already given a first glimpse of his first studio album “min ghazze labaghdad, min haifa la beirut” which will be released in February 2026. Eid’a eclectic sounds echo across global stages in live performances that get under our skin and remain in our memories for a long time to come. 

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Tickets €20/18

*Please note that workshops are not included in the full festival ticket price. Full festival ticket includes the four performance events in the Space Upstairs which are Palestine: Peace de Resistance by Sami Abu Wardeh, Return to Palestine, A Critical Conversation on Active Resistance with Ahmed Masoud and Ahmed Eid.

27 January

€20/18 | Upper Foyer

The Thread of Home explores traditional Palestinian embroidery and its parallels with 17th-century French Huguenot weaving. It highlights similarities between their histories of exile, resilience, and cultural expression. The project reflects how artisans carried their crafts and cultural heritage into new homes, expressing their journey through intricate patterns. Participants are invited to engage with these stories by creating their own embroidered pieces, inspired by these rich historical narratives. 

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30 January

€20/18 | Space Upstairs

Led by Micaela Miranda, international movement specialist and associate artist of The Freedom Theatre, this half-day Clown Workshop invites artists, performers, and curious creatives to explore the art of clowning as a tool for transformation and connection. Through games, movement, and guided improvisation, you’ll learn to embrace vulnerability, celebrate mistakes, and unlock authentic expression. Whether you’re new to clowning or returning to deepen your practice, join us for a joyful, supportive experience that celebrates freedom, laughter, and the courage to play.

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30 January

€20/18 | Space Upstairs

This two hour workshop will explore the importance of cultural resistance and the arts in the moment of freedom, how it has been used in Palestine and how it can be used here in Ireland and across the world. As a participant you will explore the mechanics, dynamics, and dramatics of movement, and will be introduced to mime, pantomime, and improvisational and devising techniques.

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26 – 31 January 

Free to attend, no booking required

This week-long programme of visual arts installations draws from the artist Tuqa Al-Sarraj’s family archive and personal memories of growing up in Gaza in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Working with photographs, domestic objects, and sensory memories such as local cuisine and childhood swimming lessons in the sea.

Tuqa explores grief, belonging, and the emotional landscape of a city she can no longer return to. Allowing childhood fragments to meet the reality of diaspora. This body of work seeks to honour both intimate family history and the wider cultural memory of Gaza.

Learn more.

For more information, please click here.