Avital Raz
Avital Raz studied at The School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem, before embarking on a 20-year career as a singer/songwriter and musician. She released seven albums of her own music and performed with acclaimed world music band Rafiki Jazz.
Two years ago, she started developing a controversial song into a solo
My Jerusalem
A tale of a drunken one-night-stand infused with stories of growing up in 80’s Israel, became a WorksAhead commission with hÅb/STUN + Contact with ACE support, mentored by Peader Kirk.
A nuanced exploration of the politics of division, from internal checkpoints and separation walls to gender norms.
A work about Razʼs ethnicity, gender, racism, and the underlying fear that perpetuates it. Can we surmount divisions imposed by occupation? Can we go beyond the blame game and really see each otherʼs all too vulnerable humanity?
Review From Mark Perkins, Exposed Magazine
Avital Raz has created a one-woman show, inspired by and expanded from a song she wrote a few years ago about a drunken, intimate encounter between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian guy. The resulting one-hour drama, My Jerusalem, is nothing short of astonishing. She used film and music to accompany herself in a mixture of monologue and song, which had the entire audience stunned, and who for the entire performance paid attention to her every word. The story she told was a voyage through the politically volatile and shocking environment surrounding a girl growing up in Israel, in the Eighties and beyond. It was both explicit and shocking in its unapologetic laying open of the continuing problems of the region, and filled my thoughts for quite some time after the performance was over. Avital has the most beautiful voice, and the stark contrast between the way she sings, and the brutality of what she sings about, gave the performance added impact. This show will hopefully have life beyond this festival performance at the wonderful Theatre Deli, as it deserves to be more widely seen.’
Avital has been a member of Divergency since 2019 and has created a piece called A Woman’s Voice Is Her Nakedness through a seed commission.
A Woman’s Voice Is Her Nakedness
The work uses live looped singing and distorted voices to explore the 10th century rabinical decree forbidding women to sing in public and generally male teachings about women. It was performed for Domestic in early 2021.