“Why can’t we have one conversation where you don’t tell me that you want me to marry a man? Why do we have to go through the same argument time and time again?”

Sometimes we rehearse conversations repeatedly before we can have them out loud. Sue’s dual Arab-UK heritage is edging her nearer to a difficult conversation and an impossible choice between the two people she loves most in the world.

“A closet door opens to unutterable light, and a person falls out, gasping, visible, trans-formed, at last.”

Jo’s self understanding has been slowly growing out of the shadows into a bright world where gender isn’t so important any more. After a lifetime fitting in, trying and failing to be a good girl, this is a morning where their wild parts take over, leading to radical self acceptance and a revelatory start to the day.

“I like tucking my hair behind my ears… it’s my secret moment of intimacy. She noticed once, that I tucked my hair too attentively. I denied it. But she knew."

The people we love most stay with us forever, even when they’re long gone, and we’re trying and failing to leave the house. Sadeen remembers the stories her grandmother told her about old Palestine, and the breakfasts she enjoyed with her ex. She must remember to eat properly.

“Why can’t we have one conversation where you don’t tell me that you want me to marry a man? Why do we have to go through the same argument time and time again?”

Sometimes we rehearse conversations repeatedly before we can have them out loud. Sue’s dual Arab-UK heritage is edging her nearer to a difficult conversation and an impossible choice between the two people she loves most in the world.

“A closet door opens to unutterable light, and a person falls out, gasping, visible, trans-formed, at last.”

Jo’s self understanding has been slowly growing out of the shadows into a bright world where gender isn’t so important any more. After a lifetime fitting in, trying and failing to be a good girl, this is a morning where their wild parts take over, leading to radical self acceptance and a revelatory start to the day.

“She’s trying, again, to set me up on a date with another eligible bachelor aka one of the sons of her quran circle friends. I’m running out of patience and ways of saying no.”

Nur is desperate to stay in contact with her deaf brother, who lives in a different world, even as she strategises ways to escape the confines of family expectations.

“I like tucking my hair behind my ears… it’s my secret moment of intimacy. She noticed once, that I tucked my hair too attentively. I denied it. But she knew. “

The people we love most stay with us forever, even when they’re long gone, and we’re trying and failing to leave the house. Sadeen remembers the stories her grandmother told her about old Palestine, and the breakfasts she enjoyed with her ex. She must remember to eat properly.

“Mum used to hug me everytime he shouted. Her only words were: it’s OK, but you shouldn’t have talked back at him, you made him even angrier.”

Fatima and her brother both left home a few years ago, but she was the one who came back. Memories of her firm friendship with him in childhood meander through the incidents that led them to their distant present.

Play Inside Series 2: How to be a Real Man or The Availability of Air is a selection of embodied audio stories from writers from Palestine, Egypt and the UK, funded by the British Council International Collaboration Fund and directed by UK artists Michelle Roche and Rosie Poebright (Splash and Ripple) in collaboration with Dawar Arts, Egypt and The Freedom Theatre, Palestine

Written by Anonymous (Palestine)

Sound Design by Hana Seifelnasr

Project Managed by Nery Mounir (Egypt) and Lama (Palestine)

Welcome into our worlds. Into our homes, into our lives. 

Come, join us for a moment. 

Witness what we see, what we feel, what we hear. 

We get power from sharing our stories. Witnessing survivors' perspectives shifts the power back into their hands. These stories transport us from homes in Egypt to England and to Palestine. We know it’s not always easy to listen to, but it’s important to be heard, to be witness to the complexity of lives, and resilience of people, people fighting for air and remembering to breathe.

“To be in a time of war, is to learn how to embroider to candlelight. Embroider the candlelight. And wait.” 

When you can’t go outside, listening becomes a meditation. Remembering and rehearsing for the time you can go outside becomes a way to live again. Curfew describes the distortion of time when it’s controlled by outside forces. 

Play Inside Series 2: How to be a Real Man or The Availability of Air is a selection of embodied audio stories from writers from Palestine, Egypt and the UK, funded by the British Council International Collaboration Fund and directed by UK artists Michelle Roche and Rosie Poebright (Splash and Ripple) in collaboration with Dawar Arts, Egypt and The Freedom Theatre, Palestine.

Written by Anonymous (Palestine)

Sound Design by Hana Seifelnasr

Project Managed by Nery Mounir (Egypt) and Lama (Palestine)

Welcome into our worlds. Into our homes, into our lives. 

Come, join us for a moment. 

Witness what we see, what we feel, what we hear. 

We get power from sharing our stories. Witnessing survivors' perspectives shifts the power back into their hands. These stories transport us from homes in Egypt to England and to Palestine. We know it’s not always easy to listen to, but it’s important to be heard, to be witness to the complexity of lives, and resilience of people, people fighting for air and remembering to breathe.

“I was a cat with nine lives. Every one of her souls honourable… a fighter… who deserved to live.”

What does it take to understand it’s not all your fault? Trace a stream of shisha bubbles through the imagination of a Jouska who has traversed many selves through violence in order to live, and dance, and smoke.

Content warning: stories where you mirror the character as they move around their homes can have a powerful impact. This story contains mention of a past experience of physical assault by family members. We encourage the audience to listen to their instinct on whether they are in the right time or place to listen or not.

Play Inside Series 2: How to be a Real Man or The Availability of Air is a selection of embodied audio stories from writers from Palestine, Egypt and the UK, funded by the British Council International Collaboration Fund and directed by UK artists Michelle Roche and Rosie Poebright (Splash and Ripple) in collaboration with Dawar Arts, Egypt and The Freedom Theatre, Palestine

Written by Angham Mardi

Sound Design by Hana Seifelnasr

Project Managed by Nery Mounir (Egypt) and Lama (Palestine)

Welcome into our worlds. Into our homes, into our lives. 

Come, join us for a moment. 

Witness what we see, what we feel, what we hear. 

We get power from sharing our stories. Witnessing survivors' perspectives shifts the power back into their hands. These stories transport us from homes in Egypt to England and to Palestine. We know it’s not always easy to listen to, but it’s important to be heard, to be witness to the complexity of lives, and resilience of people, people fighting for air and remembering to breathe.