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 brings 18 Palestinian Artists together in Ireland and presents 3 shows never staged in Ireland before, including the legendary Freedom Theatre’s first ever performance in Ireland. Featuring a New Visual Art process by Tuqa Al-Sarraj, staging the award winning Palestine: Peace de Resistance by Sami Abuwardi, and the exquisite contemporary music of Ahmed Eid, with more announcements to come, Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín holds space for collaboration, connection and active cultural resistance through the use of art.

This unique week of engagement at Project Arts Centre during its 60th anniversary celebrations 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.

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

We can’t tell you what it is yet, shush, don’t tell anyone, but…. We are delighted to present a really special mystery event that is yet to be announced! Check back soon (after the Christmas) for all info. Oh, and keep an eye on our socials too… there’s a lot more coming to the Big Blue Building for Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín in January 2026! You’re going to want to be there.

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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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