A Trumpet in the Wadi

Shmuel Hasfari’s play, adapted from a novel by Sami Michael, is set in the multicultural environment of Haifa and explores themes of identity, tradition, and modernity, reflecting the complexities of Israeli society. The story follows the romance between Alex, a Jewish trumpet player, and Houda, an Arab woman. This relationship is symbolic of the wider relations between Jews and Arabs who live in the same neighborhood. A key point in the play comes when Houda discovers that she is pregnant and struggles to decide how to best appease herself, Hanan, her family, and her culture. Houda explains why she has decided to abort the fruit of her love for a Jew who has been killed in the Lebanese war. Such a child has no chance in Israeli society and can only expect the fate of being “an outcast to both Jews and Arabs.”