Sheikh Radwan, Gaza – Before Abu Qasai Qaddoura can begin acting, he has to find something to burn. At six in the morning, the 42-year-old walks to a stall in Sheikh Radwan, where his family has been displaced, to buy firewood. It costs seven shekels ($2) per kilogram.
When he cannot afford it, he scavenges for something else to burn – cardboard, plastic or pieces of wood salvaged from destroyed homes. He lights a small fire so his family can keep warm and cook a meal. He then washes the black soot from his hands before leaving his home for rehearsal.
The journey takes two hours on foot. Qaddoura avoids a main road clogged with rubble and where he says Israeli gunfire poses a danger, taking side streets instead. By the time he reaches the rehearsal space – a makeshift fabric-and-plastic tent pitched in the car park of Gaza City’s Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Centre, his knees hurt and he struggles to catch his breath.
I’m exhausted but immediately get to work because we don’t even have time for a short break,” he says. Weary and quiet, Qaddoura sits slumped as he speaks, his hands resting heavily on his knees. On stage, he plays a doctor trapped inside a Gaza hospital.
The baby doll cradled in his arms is his character’s son. He must amputate the child’s leg himself. The scene is based on the real-life experience of a father in Gaza, whose video the actors have watched.
Until now, Qaddoura had never acted. Before the war, he worked behind the camera as a production manager and sound technician for local media companies. Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza destroyed his home in al-Tawam.
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