Description
The Arab-Israeli Cookbook: The Play
by Robin Soans
About the play
The Arab-Israeli Cookbook is a drama created from the everyday realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The project began when the Caird Company sent the writer Robin Soans and directors Rima Brihi and Tim Roseman to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank in 2003. There they sampled a variety of dishes in homes, restaurants, shops and cafes and met dozens of people with different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. Each person had a story to tell and a recipe to cook.
Robin Soans has constructed a verbatim play from the words he collected. Arab and Israeli voices come together to bring insight and understanding to the melting pot of Middle Eastern affairs.
About the author
As an actor, Robin has appeared in eighty plays, thirty-six of them in London, with work at the National Theatre, The Royal Court, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Hampstead, The Tricycle, The Bush and The Young Vic. He has made thirty television appearances and been in twelve films. As a writer, he co-wrote Chobham Armour at the Half Moon Theatre; there then followed Bet Noir (Young Vic); Sinners and Saints (Croydon Warehouse); Will and Testament (Oval); and Not Today Thank you for Capital Radio. In 2000, he wrote A State Affair for Out of Joint. It went on two national tours, had two runs at Soho Theatre and was invited to be performed in the House of Lords. In November 2004 he helped research and then wrote Talking to Terrorists, a co-production between The Royal Court and Out of Joint, and directed by Max Stafford-Clark. It toured for two months and arrived at the Royal Court on 1st July 2005.
