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“Mr. Perfect” is a written, directed and performed play by Atef Abu Saif . They will give 70 performances at high
schools around Gaza.
“Mr. Perfect” is not a typical play because there are no plays in
Gaza and it is the first time to see women a stage.
The
play deals the problem of divorced women who are rejected by
Palestinian society as well as the women’s difficulty in achieving
self-fulfillment because their fathers, brothers and husbands
confine them to their homes to care for their families.
The
two actresses (Mai Abu-Zaydan, and Wissam Yassin)
were raised abroad by Palestinian parents.
"People here look
at a divorced woman as if she is nothing," says Wissam Yassin, who
plays the lead, Farcha, a young divorced woman who has left her
husband and returned to her parents' home, but is perceived as a
wrongdoer because she has brought shame on them by getting a
divorce. She is confined to the home to save the family honor.
The play’s message highlights the need to talk about the “small
things” a woman can be living under occupation.
"The negative
people argue that during the intifada we must not talk about these
`small' issues because we must concentrate all our effort on our
struggle to end the occupation," says Mohammed Abu Zayed, the 32-
year-old media coordinator of the play, and a civil servant in the
Palestinian Authority [PA]. Abu-Zaydan agrees: "We must speak out
about these problems. In fact, it can help us against the [Israeli]
occupation. If we change our attitudes about these small things, we
can deal with others as well."
"But this is a
pretext, it's nonsense. You can struggle and you can live your life.
The battle is long, maybe it won't end in hundreds of years. So, we
have to live, we can't postpone our lives," he continues.
For Wissam Yassin the message of the play is for both women and
society in general.
“Divorce is not the end
of the world. Women should go out, study and be able to continue
with their lives. Women have a right to self-realization.” Explained
Yassin
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