Part of the The Five Lamps Arts Festival 2026 collection

A staged reading featuring Palestinian performers, music, choreography, and visual elements that bring this powerful work to life.

Tales of a City by the Sea by Samah Sabawi is a deeply moving love story that reveals the lives of ordinary people in the besieged Gaza Strip before, during and after its bombardment in the winter of 2008–2009. The play follows Jomana, a Palestinian woman living in the Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza, who falls in love with Rami, an American-born doctor and activist of Palestinian descent who arrives on the first Free Gaza boats in 2008.

Exploring the relationship between Palestinians in the diaspora and those living under occupation, the play is also a powerful story of human survival, resilience and tenacity.

Samah Sabawi is an award-winning Palestinian playwright, poet, scholar, and political commentator whose work weaves art and resistance into powerful expressions of identity, memory, and hope.

This staged reading includes Palestinian actors, musicians and performers who are part of Palestinian Cultural Days Dublin, alongside choreography, staging and visual elements, offering audiences an immersive and emotionally resonant experience of this significant work.

More information about the collective: palestinianculturaldaysdublin.com

Writer: Samah Sabawi
Director: Joe O’Byrne
Music: Brian Keegan
Choreography: Katerina Kaniamou

“Sabawi has created an enthralling landscape and peopled it with believable characters. It looks beyond the political to examine the effect of war on those who cannot leave the battleground. It’s a gripping piece of theatre that begs to be seen and heard.”
Adelaide Theatre Guide

All proceeds from this event will go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) – a nonprofit that provides free medical care and humanitarian aid to children in the Middle East.