In conversation: Avital Raz

"If we think of ourselves as victims all the time, how can we be aggressors? I wanted to show that we’re both”

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In 2013, Jerusalem-born Avital Raz released The Edinburgh Surprise, a song about a one-night stand between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man. Stemming from this and the controversy it caused, My Jerusalem is her own story. Raz takes the audience through moments of her upbringing in tumultuous 1980s Israel and presents her nuanced exploration of the politics of division, using live music, projected images and storytelling. Although the national tour of the show was cut short due to Covid, it has now been filmed before a live audience in Manchester and is available to stream until Saturday 7 August. The documentary, Your Jerusalem, in which she interviews Israelis, Palestinians and people in the UK about the issues raised in the show, is also available to stream.

JR’s Judi Herman has watched both films and The Edinburgh Surprise and spoke to Raz about her Jerusalem and the experiences that led her to make My Jerusalem, a show that Judi hails as “personal, heartfelt, controversial, hard hitting and beautiful”.

My Jerusalem and Your Jerusalem are available to stream via Applecart Arts until Saturday 7 August and Sunday 8 August, respectively.

Warning: This podcast contains references to child abuse, which forms a small part of the narrative in My Jerusalem and The Edinburgh Surprise contains explicit sexual content.