Sharif شريف is a moving drama about the precarious lives of LGBTQ+ Palestinians, written by Tomer Aldubi.
Sharif was forced to flee the West Bank as a teen, after his sexual identity has been publicly exposed and his life put in danger. Since then, he’s been trying to survive in Israel, a foreign land, completely alone.
Barely speaking the language, and guided by the memory of his secret lover Nour, whom he left behind, he tries to secure a stay permit on the grounds of welfare.
The play oscillates between scenes from Sharif’s past and present – from interrogations by the IDF regarding his application for a permit that drag on for months; through the family crisis following his forced disappearance; to life-threatening encounters with the Palestinian Police. Some people he meets along the way lend him a generous hand, while others try to exploit his delicate situation.
All Sharif dreams of is reuniting with his love. Nour’s fate is unknown to Sharif, and yet he is holding onto a thin thread. Will they ever meet again?
About the Playwright
Tomer Aldubi is a queer Israeli journalist, playwright, and theatre director. In the past three years, Tomer has been part of the Israeli Fringe Theatre awards committee. He’s been working as a freelance journalist for the news media website Mako since 2014, where he had
published hundreds of articles and interviews about various LGBTQ+ issues. It is through his journalism practice that he was first introduced to the situation of queer Palestinians in 2020 and was one of the first-ever journalists to publish articles and interviews about that community.
His knowledge of that community was also deepened through his time as a volunteer during the last two years for The Different House - المختلف البيت, an Israeli non-governmental organization dedicated to empowering and assisting Arab LGBTQ+ people in Israel and in the
occupied territories. The NGO works to empower the community and provides legal and personal support to Palestinian asylum seekers in Israel and Arab transgenders.
Tomer has a B.A in Theatre Directing from the Tel Aviv University.
