The Beekeeper of Aleppo: a transnational collaboration

This article situates the adaptation of literature for the stage as a collaborative artistic practice and critical research methodology. We describe our experience of co-writing a play based on Christy Lefteri’s award-winning novel The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2019). As playwrights based in London and California, respectively, with life experiences rooted in Syria, the United Kingdom, and the United States, our collaborative process pushes against the borders of geography and our own identities. We share a belief in the power of theater for social change, and a desire to make visible the effects of inhumane immigration systems on refugees and asylum-seekers.