REBELS & PATRIOTS.

“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not an Arab eyes?”

One is a proud soldier, one wants to get out, one was never drafted and one is torn apart. All are baby boys of war.

Rebels and Patriots is an Israeli-Palestinian collaboration that follows four teenage Israelis conscripted into the IDF — exploring the trauma, violence, and moral conflict in the lives of these young people.

Drawn from writer (and performer) Nadav Burstein’s experience in the Israeli military, this work confronts the fragmented, violent realities lived in the midst of war and portrays the price paid by these young men conscripted into the military. The piece is performed by an ensemble of Israeli, Palestinian and British actors. It follows four young men as they become soldiers, exploring how their traumatic time in the army affects their lives. It voices a critical voice for change, outlines the importance of protest, interrogates our shared histories and political biases, and asks important questions about complicity, responsibility and notions of national security.

After a Critics’ Choice run at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe (The Times, TimeOut, iNews, Jewish Renaissance, The Telegraph) where it received critical acclaim, won a Sit-Up Award Grant for social impact, longlisted for the RSC’s 37 Plays, finalist of the Pleasance Charlie Hartill Reserve and Featured on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, it has now received Arts Council funding for further development.

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."