Of course they don’t mean to kill us, even when they drop 2,000-pound bombs on us.
Aged just 26, Sondos Sabra has survived two years of the genocide which has claimed the lives of at least 63,000 Gazans, forcibly displaced almost 2 million people, and seen huge areas of the Strip reduced to rubble — including homes, hospitals, universities and arts centres.
Sondos’ diaries are a stark record of the brutality of Israel’s genocide: the bombardment, displacement and mass murder of civilians, including members of Sabra’s own family. They are also filled with love, enduring humour, and stories of everyday resilience — from the neighbour who fashions an ashtray from the shrapnel of an American-made bomb, to the enduring bonds of friendship, family and a deep connection to the land.
They don’t want to see me as anything but a number, a voiceless creature. And when they declared, ‘No water, no food, no electricity,’ it was as if they were also whispering, ‘No memory, no humanity.’ But they have failed. I think, I write, and I remember. I remember that I remember, and I will not have that memory erased.
The event will be accompanied by video from the Gazan filmmaker Hossam Abo Shamallah and followed by a Q&A with local Palestinians, academics and activists.
Part of Index on Censorship’s Banned Books Week.
Important information
Tickets:
From: £12.00
Running time:
1 hr 30 minutes
Age guideline:
16+
Sensory notice & content warnings
Contains accounts of genocide, including descriptions of violence, death and displacement.
Please note – most of our productions feature flashing lights and loud sounds.
If you require this information prior to booking, please check back for updates or call our Box Office on 01752 267222.
Sondos Sabra
Sondos Sabra is a regular contributor to New Statesman Magazine. Her work has appeared onstage at the Barbican Centre, London and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. Her piece We Kill Terrorism, detailing the murder of four children in her family by an Israeli quadcopter, was read by the actress Maxine Peake to a crowd of over 15,000 people at a National March for Palestine in September 2024. Her diaries are published in Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide, available from Comma Press. She remains in Gaza city, continuing to write.
Batool Abu Akleen
Batool Abu Akleen is a poet and translator, born in Gaza City. Her debut collection, 48Kg (Tenement Press, 2025) was described by The Guardian as “[a] heartbreaking and risk-taking protest, with uncompromising clarity and tenderness, against continuing atrocities”. She is a winner of the 2024 London Magazine Poetry Prize. Her diaries are published in Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide, available from Comma Press. Much like Sondos Sabra, Batool remains in Gaza city, continuing to write.
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is an educator, writer and poet from Leeds and the author of the poetry collection Postcolonial Banter (Verve Poetry Press, 2019), the books Seeing for Ourselves And Even Stranger Possibilities (Hajar Press, 2023) and Tangled in Terror: Uprooting Islamophobia (Pluto Press, 2022), and the play Peanut Butter and Blueberries (Kiln Theatre, 2024).
Mohammed Ghalayini
Mohammed Ghalayini is a Palestinian scientist, translator, and journalist from Gaza. He survived the early months of the genocide, providing on the ground reportage, before being forced to leave his family home in December 2023. He is the co-creator of the play Light In Me Don’t Die (Moveable Type & Manchester Theatre for Palestine, 2024) and the Gaza Nights Manchester Cabaret (Amplify Gaza Stories, 2024), both in support of Amplify Gaza’s community kitchen projects.
Danielle McIlven
Danielle McIlven is a theatre director and educator. She the artistic director of the Totnes Fringe Festival and the founder of Devon-based Moveable Type Theatre, for which she has directed plays including Future Days (Dartington Arts and Totnes Barrelhouse, 2022) and Light In Me Don’t Die (Plymouth Barbican and Totnes Barrelhouse, 2024). She is a teaching fellow in Acting and Drama at the University of Plymouth.
Comma Press
Comma Press is a not-for-profit publisher based in Manchester, with strong family ties to Gaza. Comma has published books include The Book of Gaza, The Drone Eats With Me, The Sea Cloak, Don’t Look Left and Voices of Resistance. All of Comma Press’s share of ticket sales will go towards Sondos Sabra and Batool Abu Akleen’s education funds.
Concession Information
Member Concession
Members (non-priority period)
5% off Price Band A on all performances
Members (priority period)
10% off Price Band A on all performances
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£4.00 off Price Band A on all performances
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£10.00 tickets on Price Band A–B on all performances, +1 complimentary teacher ticket for 10 pupils booked.
Multibuy Concession
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3+ productions 15% off Price Band A on all performances.
5+ productions 25% off Price Band A on all performances.
Standard Multibuy (Non Members)
3+ productions 10% off Price Band A on all performances.
5+ productions 20% off Price Band A on all performances.
