Bethlehem Calling

Recorded at the National Theatre of Scotland’s Rockvilla, ahead of Celtic Connections

On this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by some of the team behind the Scottish-Palestinian collaboration Bethlehem Calling, which is an evening of stories, music and pipers coming to Celtic Connections this weekend…

It’s based on the diaries of teenage girls who were encouraged by a teacher to write about their experiences of growing up in the West Bank during the second intifada (early-mid 2000s).

Some of those women are also revisited in this latest production of a show that was first staged by the pupils themselves, and there are also present-day testimonies from current students at the same school.

The resulting musical, audio-visual and verbatim theatre show features artists like Paul Thomson – who’s played with Franz Ferdinand – and theatre makers Ben Harrison, Zoe Hunter and Reada Ghazaleh…

And that’s not to mention audio visual designer Dav Bernard, and the spirit of the Palestinian Arab Orthodox Scout Pipers of Beit Jala, who formed 100 years ago – originally taught by Scots Guards – and whose skirling will ring out across the performance, despite several visa rejections this week…

Bethlehem Calling’s at Glasgow Tramway this Saturday, January 25th, but I snuck into rehearsals a couple of days ago, and was already floored by what I saw…

Before they headed home for the night, Raeda, Zoe and Ben shed more light on the project, and what it means to them – with special thanks to Reada, who’d just touched down in Scotland only a few hours earlier…

Listen on all podcast platforms, or right here!