Silence, ça tourne

It all started with Eva Ståhl, a Swedish nurse, survivor of the massacre at the Palestinian camp of Tel Al Zaatar in 1976. Her testimony, discovered in the archives of the Associated Press, inspired Chrystèle Khodr and Nadim Deaibes in their wish to find out about her. And it was in 2023, in Göteborg, that Chrystèle Khodr collected her deeply disturbing account of the attack on the camp by militia of the Christian right. Words which became the raw material for the show. Through the medium of Eva Ståhl’s memories, as well as the personal log of a Palestinian doctor from the camp, and the archives of a Swedish war reporter, Silence, ça tourne scrutinises what it means to be a witness and a survivor.

On the stage, magnetic tapes pile up around Chrystèle Khodr, jumbled together in a gradual recreation of a besieged camp. A transistor radio crackles. The determined voices of survivors are raised, here where silence could conceal History repeating itself. Silence, ça tourne is not an exact documentary reconstruction, nor is it simply a homage. Rather, Chrystèle Khodr and Nadim Deaibes are deeply engaged in questioning the continuing impunity and persistent disinformation. Every archive recording, assembled along with others, gives substance and weight to the denunciation of war crimes. Like a theatrical gesture, vibrating with struggle and hope.  

Coproduction Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles