Adnan Tarabash, the manager of Al-Midan Theater in Haifa, remains unable to understand what sparked the public uproar over “A Parallel Time,” a play by Bashar Murkus that he says prompted the city council to freeze funding for the theater. One city council member, Shai Blumenthal from HaBayit HaYehudi, submitted a point of order, arguing that the play was based on a story written by Walid Daka, convicted of being a member of a terrorist cell that 21 years ago kidnapped and murdered Moshe Tamam, an Israeli soldier.

“You take a terrorist, a murderer, you give him a platform and try to turn him into something positive,” Blumenthal said to council members. Yet, in an interview with Al-Monitor, the manager of Al-Midan said that the people who have raised a hue and cry over the play had never seen it and don’t know what it is about.

“We are very surprised by the bluster against the play, which we originally staged 14 months ago and is now playing for the 26th time,” Tarabash said. “The play is a far cry from the cliches about acts of heroism, or lack thereof, by security prisoners in Israeli prisons. We didn’t even go into those things. We only explored the question of how people go about their daily life in prison. We’ve already been asked to stage the play in France and England. I really don’t understand who made up the allegation that we praise terrorists or political prisoners.”

The play was written and directed by Murkus, a mere 22-year-old, who graduated from the department of theater at Haifa University. He approached the theater with a proposal to hold writing workshops focusing on writing plays dealing with the security prisoners. From that, a play emerged revolving around the life of six prisoners and a jailer in an Israeli prison. One of the inmates, a musician, is granted permission by the authorities to marry. At that point, the musician prisoner’s cellmates secretly plan a wedding party for him. They even plan to build an instrument, an oud, as a gift. For the most part, the play deals with building the oud, the problems that ensue and the maneuvering required to smuggle the strings and other raw materials into the prison.