President Catherine Connolly is set to attend the opening night of Return to Palestine, a ground-breaking theatre production that is co-produced by Palestinian company The Freedom Theatre and the Dublin Theatre Festival.

The play is being staged at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar, marking the first time a work by The Freedom Theatre, which is based in Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestine, is staged in Ireland.

The performance is centred around Jad, who is Palestinian but born in the US, as he travels to Palestine for the first time. There, he learns more about his heritage and identity, but also discovers that life in Palestine is very different from what he has seen in the news.

Return to Palestine is directed by Micaela Miranda, and was devised in collaboration with an ensemble of actors and musicians from Jenin Refugee Camp.

Ahead of this evening’s performance, Connolly said she is “delighted” to attend the opening night.

In a statement, she said: “The Freedom Theatre is an inspirational cultural and artistic centre, empowering Palestinians to share their own authentic voices and stories with each other and with the wider world. May I thank Micaela Miranda and the ensemble of graduate actors from the Freedom Theatre School for bringing this production to Ireland, and all involved with Cairde Amharclann na Saoirse in Éirinn for the solidarity they are showing at the Project Arts Centre this week with Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín.”

Mustafa Sheta, The Freedom Theatre’s general manager and producer, described President Connolly’s commitment to attend as a “significant gesture of political and cultural solidarity,” and encouraged Irish audiences to attend the performance to hear the real stories of Palestinians and the narratives of those displaced in refugee camps.

Return to Palestine will run at the Space Upstairs in the Project Arts Centre on January 28, 29 and 30. You can grab your tickets right here.