REBELS & PATRIOTS.
“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not an Arab eyes?”
Rebels and Patriots is a protest.
A bold, urgent Israeli-Palestinian collaboration, it follows four young Israelis conscripted into the IDF — exposing the trauma, violence, and moral conflict baked into an unjust, oppressing system.
Drawn from the writer’s own experience in the army, this raw, physical work confronts the realities of living in the midst of war and the heavy psychological price paid by teenagers turned into soldiers.
Critically acclaimed and politically urgent:
Winner of a Sit-Up Award Grant for social impact
Longlisted for the RSC’s 37 Plays
Finalist of the Pleasance Charlie Hartill Reserve
Featured on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row
After a Critics’ Choice run at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe (The Times, TimeOut, iNews, Jewish Renaissance, The Telegraph) it has now received Arts Council funding for further development and will be touring across 2025–26.
The show was developed in association with Flabbergast Theatre.
PRESS.
★★★★
(The Scotsman, Joyce McMillan)
"Forceful and timely play, powerfully sustained through a brief and memorable hour. A courageous report."
★★★★
(Stage2Page, Rachel Sarah Leveney)
"This show sparks some incredibly important thoughts and conversations and is essential viewing in this current world."
★★★★★
(Jewish Renaissance, Danielle Goldstein)
"A powerful, hard-hitting drama that tells the vital story of the affect of the IDF on young minds."
★★★★★
(Bouquets & Brickbats, Susan Singfield)
"I’m impressed by the openness with which this young company approach this thorniest of topics, gently urging us to interrogate everything we think we know. If only the world’s political leaders were as committed to constructive dialogue."
★★★★
(The Recs, RJC)
"Playwright and performer Nadav Burstein has not flinched from dealing with the hardest of issues – the affect that the conflict has on the young men sent to do their leaders’ bidding and he is to be applauded for it."
★★★★★
(British Theatre Guide, Keith Mckenna)
"This must be one of the most important plays of this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Expressing the fury and grief of a generation forced into a war that seems to have no end in sight."
