Are theatre texts documents of rapidly changing events in times of extreme complexity? If so, then what kind of documents are they? These questions provided the first motivation for writing Could You Please Look into the Camera? The second motivation was purely personal: the Assad regime’s program of arbitrary detention had stepped up the frequency of arrests, creating a republic of fear. This ugly fear that Syrians now share—whether arrested or not—had to be exposed in public.

The Syrian opposition has used web and performance activism to bolster and spread an ethos of creative resistance, subverting state ceremonies and rhetoric. These activists have transformed the martyr into the one who died defying rather than supporting the state.