KUKURÍKU

The child he was forced to father back then—and whom he is searching for—has, in the meantime, set out on the reverse journey to Israel, unaware of his origins. A cross-generational web of guilt and forgiveness, closeness and violence.

The only play by the writer Yoram Kaniuk, who died in 2013, was only recently discovered among his papers and celebrated its world premiere in 2025 at the TD Berlin.

Kerem Hillel’s directorial concept, in which all characters wear masks, combined with the music by Meittam Govreen, creates a powerful chamber play. Concrete dialogues intersect with poetic moments of encounter, creating an atmospheric space for negotiation within a stage design that grows increasingly intense. Memories of the crimes of the Nazi era enter into dialogue with the desire for renewal—between people, cultures, and entrenched national relations.

“What do you not remember when you remember?” serves as a probing question in the play, linking the present with the past.

Is it a matter of right or wrong—or more about how we deal with the past: do we repress it or hold on to it? Or can we retell the past until we finally find ourselves in it?