“…the show is very effective, and ultimately surprisingly moving… 

“…Friend’s considerable efforts have raised money for a cause that represents one of the few beacons of hope for Israelis and the Palestinians…”      Jewish Chronicle

Victory? Trailer

Victory?​

Rick Friend’s controversial musical, VICTORY? deals with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Friend directed VICTORY? as a workshop charity performance, at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in 2004, with actors Bertie Carvel (Olivier Award winner for Best Actor in Matilda and Best Supporting Actor in Ink), Raza Jaffrey (leading actor in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams, BBC drama Spooks and CBS drama Code Black and Juliette Caton, (leading actress in the Cameron Mackintosh musical Martin Guerre and Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ). The Musical Director was Andy Smith of We Will Rock You and The Lion King in London’s West End. VICTORY? was produced by Production Friend, with producer Daniella Gonella of DG Productions.

Background

VICTORY? was conceived in October 2003. The book was written around research material and songs that Rick Friend had composed; a couple with musicians Denise Marsa and Robert Bond. He then wrote new songs and the book, with additional material devised by the cast in rehearsal. David Watts, who has worked at the RSC and for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber in the West End, was brought in to do the vocal score arrangements. 12 weeks after its conception, VICTORY? was performed at the Donmar Warehouse. The action takes place in Abu Dhabi, Jerusalem and Ramallah on the West Bank, between 2001 and 2002. In the 1980’s Rick Friend performed for 3 months, as a young singer for Palestinians in The United Arab Emirates. 

Victory? – World Premiere – Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London, 4th January 2004

Synopsis

When English dancer Gina travels to the United Arab Emirates, she meets Ahmed, a disenfranchised Palestinian exile. Six months later, her work takes her to Israel where she meets Uri, an Israeli writer. Gina finds that she is not only caught in the middle of a complex love triangle, but also an enormous political divide where her allegiances are tested to the limit.

Gina Juliet Caton

Ahmed  Raza Jaffrey

Uri  Bertie Carvel


Writer/Director/Composer  Rick Friend

Producer  Daniella Gonella

Co-Producer  Rick Friend

Musical Director  Andy Smith

Assistant Musical Director  Elliott Ware

Vocal Score Arrangements  David Watts

Management

(For Donmar Warehouse)  Collette McEntree, Ruth Close

Lighting  Stuart Craine (Donmar Warehouse)

Master Carpenter and Props  PJ (Donmar Warehouse)

Stage Manager  Julia Slienger

Assistant Stage Manager  Sharon Sooker

Sound Engineer  Chris Braclik

Wardrobe  Sarah Sharp

Piano  Andy Smith

Keyboards and Flute  Elliott Ware

Guitar  Hugh Davies

Bass  Trevor Barry

Drums  Gareth Roberts

Backing Vocalists  Bekki Chana, Jodie Jacobs, Jai Ramage

1. Victory – Ensemble

2. Waiting – Ahmed

3. Dance With Me – Gina

4. Save Your Heart For Me – Ahmed

5. We’re Laughing Anyway – Uri

6. Love In The Roses – Uri

7. Another World – Ahmed

8. Where Are The Blue Skies? – Gina

9. Every Day Of Our Lives – Gina

10. Men In A Dream – Ensemble

11. Dancing In My Heart – Ahmed

12. A Fine Line – Uri

13. Where Are The Blue Skies? (Reprise) – Gina

14. Dance With Me – Ahmed

15. The Hatred Of Brothers – Ahmed & Uri

16. Victory (Reprise) – Gina & Ensemble

 

All songs written by Rick Friend except:

Victory & A Fine Linewritten by Rick Friend & Denise Marsa*

Men In A Dream – written by Rick Friend & Robert Bond

*Marsa Music – www.denisemarsa.com

Thanks

Alex Aaronson, Tracey Butler, Donmar Warehouse Box Office & all the staff, Alix Friend, Gap, Joanne Homer & Steve Marsden at Yamaha, Akpesiri Iyovwaye, Landmark Education, Lord Levy, Julia & Doug de Peyer-Evans, The Phoenix School, Craig Purnell, Mandy Swanne at Spotlight Casting, Paul Wiles.

Charities

All profits from the first public performance of Victory? at the Donmar Warehouse were dedicated to 2 charities which deal with reconciliation between Jews and Arabs: Seeds of Peace and The British Friends of Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam – Oasis of Peace.

Seeds of Peace – has graduated thousands of teenagers representing 27 nations from its internationally recognized conflict resolution and co-existence program. Seeds of Peace works to foster negotiation skills so that the future leaders of participating nations have the tools to make their own peace.  Seeds of Peace has received international support from governments and leaders alike, receiving the UNESCO Prize for Peace in 2001. Seeds of Peace began by bringing together 46 Palestinians, Israelis, and Egyptians in 1993. Now, two decades later, over 3,000 young leaders and several hundred educators from the Middle East have graduated from the Seeds of Peace Camp, including delegates from Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Yemen. Seeds of Peace now works primarily with young Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian leaders. The program begins at our Camp in Maine, where Middle East campers discuss core elements of the conflict; the origins of the Zionist movement, the Holocaust, the Nakba, the Occupation, fear of violence, and fear of others, as well as terrorism, racism, and other drivers of oppression. Programs continue with year-round local activities focused on the capacities leaders need most to be effective changemakers 

www.seedsofpeace.org

Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam – Oasis of Peace – is a vil­lage of Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel ded­icated to building justice, peace and equality in the country and the region. Situated equidistant from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the community was established in 1970 by Fr. Bruno Hussar on land of the Latrun Monastery. It is a model of equality, mu­tual respect and partnership that challenges existing patterns of racism and discrimination as well as the continued conflict. The community has established educational institutions based on its ideals and con­ducts activities focused on social and political change. Many of the village members work in peace, justice and reconciliation projects. It has a popula­tion of 70 families and will grow to 150 families. It is the only place in Israel where Jewish and Arab families have chosen to live together, committed to working through problems and differences. On site there is a bi-lingual Kindergarten and Primary School for over 300 children. The out-reach educational body of the village is represented by The School for Peace providing conflict resolution programmes for Jewish and Arab youth.


https://wasns.org

Press

Pictured from left actors Bertie Carvel, and Juliette Caton, writer Rick Friend, actor Raza Jaffrey

From Camden New Journal Article by Kim Janssen

WEST End stars brought … a musical about the unlikely subject of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to life on Sunday… The premiere of Rick Friend’s Victory! at the Donmar Warehouse raised funds for two charities working for peace in the region. Mr Friend wrote and directed the play in just two-and-a-half months. He said: “It was a friend’s idea back in October – at first I thought it couldn’t be done but I soon came around. “The cast we have is wonderful…  Raza Jaffrey, who was the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams, and Juliette Caton, who was in the lead in the original production of Martin Guerre…” Describing Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim’s controversial performances for peace in Palestine as “fantastic”, he added: “…As a boy I sang for Palestinians …in Abu Dhabi.” Musicians from the Ben Elton and Queen musical We Will Rock You provided a live soundtrack at the Covent Garden theatre. The play tells the story of an English dancer who must deal with the politics of the war when she falls in love with a Palestinian and then an Israeli. She goes on a journey from ignorant home counties girl to committed member of the International Solidarity Movement, members of whom campaign for peace in Palestine. When she dies at the end of the play – shot in the West Bank, just like real life 22-year-old Tufnell Park peace activist Tom Hurndall – her two lovers must confront their own prejudices. Funds raised at the one-night-only show will be split between Seeds of Peace, which trains teenagers in conflict resolution, and Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the only place in Israel where Jewish and Arab families have chosen to educate and raise their children together for peace. Loweai Hadad, an 18-year-old Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp in Gaza and attended Sunday’s performance, said: “The experience of meeting Israelis my age and seeing things from their point of view as well as ours changed my life.”

…Arab-Israeli conflict takes centre stage at Donmar Warehouse….

From Article in Ham and High by Andrew Brightwell Jan 2 2004

Rick Friend’s dogged determination has helped him pull off the theatrical coup by staging Victory? at the prestigious Donmar Warehouse, in Covent Garden, on Sunday. And the part-time playwright, musician, actor and songwriter has persuaded Raza Jaffrey, star of the musical Bombay Dreams, to appear in the one-off production. The young cast of Jaffrey, Bertie Carvel and Juliette Caton has worked with Mr Friend for just two weeks on the production, developing the story of a love triangle between young English choreographer, Gina, Palestinian dissident, Ahmed, and Uri, an Israeli writer. Mr Friend said: “She travels to Abu Dhabi to choreograph the work of a fairly crummy covers band called Sugar, Sugar. There she meets Ahmed and they begin a relationship. “After a while, she returns to England, before she goes to work in Israel. where she meets Uri, and starts a relationship with him. Then Ahmed arrives to visit members of his family and she gets caught in the middle of their political differences.”  Mr Friend explained why he was keen to explore such a difficult subject with song and dance.

“I don’t think there is enough musical work that tries to deal with current issues like this.” he said. “It is a controversial subject matter, but I do think it is balanced.” As proof of that, Mr Friend will donate the proceeds from the box office to two charities dedicated to campaigning for peace in the Middle East: the conflict resolution project Seeds of Peace and British Friends of Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam – Oasis of Peace, which is a town where Arabs and Jews live together. Bertie Carvel, who plays Uri and is also appearing as a swinger in Hampstead Theatre’s current play Revelations, said: “One thing that attracted me was the exploration of the politics. My character has to express his views quite forcefully. I don’t necessarily share those views but you have to understand them and make them believable.”

Tickets are available from the Donmar Warehouse box office on 020-7369 1765.

andrew.brightwell@hamhigh.co.uk