Application 39
An ETT, Matthew Schmolle Productions and Theatre Royal Stratford East Co-ProductionA sharply satirical, future‑facing drama, Application 39 imagines a Gaza risen from ruin, unexpectedly awarded the right to host the 2048 Olympic Games, exactly 100 years after the Nakba.
Two young IT workers in the municipality of Gaza hack the bid process for the 2048 Olympics as a prank – and win. Their “victory” becomes a surreal yet pressing journey through occupation, bureaucracy, absurdity, and reconstruction.
This stage version draws on real‑life testimonies, including from Gaza itself, to pose a radical question: what if Gaza were no longer rubble and siege – but a site of global gathering, resistance and renewal?
Created by Palestinian writer Ahmed Masoud, Application 39 is bold, irreverent, and rooted in lived testimony as well as speculative hope.
This is more than just theatre. It is art, activism, political resistance and storytelling – painful, joyous, elemental and essential.
The Guardian
