"Habous"... a Saudi text on the Palestinian stage that tests the limits of freedom and restriction

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On Saturday, September 26, 2026, the Palestinian city of Hebron witnessed the first performances of the play “Habous” by the Saudi playwright and poet, Dr. Saleh Zamanan, in the first experience of his texts on Palestinian theatres, while the performances continue today, Sunday, at the “Childhood Happiness” Theater of the Hebron Municipality.

The "Yes Theater" Association in Hebron produces the show, and its experience is led by Palestinian director Saeed Salama, with the participation of a group of Palestinian artists. The performances will continue during the coming period in a number of Hebron theaters, before moving to other Palestinian cities during the years 2026 and 2027.

“Habous” starts from a strange hypothesis that imagines a person being torn from his world, to find himself a prisoner inside the imagination and body of another person, stuck in a consciousness that does not belong to him, carrying a longing that is not his own, listening to ideas that he did not choose, and living a diary that was imposed on him.

Through the intersection of memory, voices and desires, the show tests the boundaries between self and other, prisoner and jailer, and raises questions about forms of imprisonment that may go beyond walls and bars to memory, fear, thoughts and judgments settled within the human being.

For his part, Dr. Saleh Zamanan confirmed to Al Arabiya.net that the text “Habous” is based on a symbolic load that goes beyond the concept of physical prison. He said: “The presentation of “Habous” warns the recipient in advance against reducing the concept of prison to walls and bars, as it reveals hidden prisons that may form in a restless memory, or fear that besieges life, or thoughts and judgments that settle in the consciousness until they turn into internal cells. By mixing strangeness and contemplation, the show raises questions about freedom. And guilt and human pain, leaving the audience to contemplate the precise distance between restriction and liberation.”

In parallel, Zamanan indicated his pride in the experience, which for him holds special importance as it is the first time his texts were presented on Palestinian theatres, praising the role of the “Yes Theater” Association in the city of Hebron, as an artistic, humanitarian and national project that confronts the occupation and siege with art, drama and beauty.

“Habous” is directed by Palestinian director Saeed Salama, who specializes in pantomime theatre, and has performed during his career in a number of theaters in Europe, Asia and Africa.

In the same context, the artists Mohammed Al-Titi, Raed Al-Shuyoukhi, Sameh Al-Amla, and Khalil Nassar are participating in the show’s starring role, while Natalie Hoadley is in charge of the scenography, Hammam Amr is in charge of the techniques, and Dr. Muhammad Issa is in charge of the production supervision.

In addition, the musical composition of the play is undertaken by the Palestinian composer Saeed Murad, founder of the Palestinian musical group “Sabreen” and the author of a number of well-known works in Arab artistic memory, including the operetta “Jerusalem is the Gate of Heaven,” the song “About Insan” by the poet Mahmoud Darwish, and the song “Jai Al-Hammam.”

“Habous” gains its specificity from the convergence of a contemporary Saudi text with a Palestinian theatrical vision, in which the elements of directing, music, scenography, and performance intersect, while the show places the concept of freedom at the heart of its experience, by examining the forms of visible and hidden restrictions, within a Palestinian context in which questions of siege, occupation, and freedom are strongly present.