Yousef Sweid (GER/ISR)

Authors / Theater

is an actor and author. He is a Palestinian Israeli, was born in Haifa, and lives in Berlin. In Tel Aviv, he worked with Arab and Jewish communities and founded the Arab-Hebrew Theater in Jaffa. As an actor, he was a member of the Israeli National Theater and the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv, and soon began working in film and television.
He is the (co-)author of numerous award-winning plays that deal with intercultural understanding and have been performed worldwide. He has worked at the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Schaubühne Berlin, and the Burgtheater in Vienna, and continues to appear in films and series such as UNORTHODOX, TOTENFRAU, WALK ON WATER, BAGDAD CENTRAL, GAME OF THRONES, and HOMELAND.

WORKS

BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE SEA, written by Yousef Sweid and Isabella Sedlak

April 2025

Premiere: Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin

Palestinian-Israeli actor Yousef Sweid dives into the chaos of identity, truth, and family life. Raised as a Christian Arab kid in Haifa, now raising two Jewish-Arab kids in Berlin, he unpacks his in-between-ness where contradictions clash and slogans fail. With biting humor and raw honesty, Sweid weaves personal stories, political reflection, and absurd everyday moments into a sharp, unflinching solo performance. This is no neat narrative- but a plea for nuance, for listening, and for stories that rarely get told.

“A radical performance — in its humanity, its humor, its nuances. It was desperately needed.” rbb24

“It’s a work that hydrates the heart and conscience” The Berliner

“People want to hear more about the nuances, about biographies such as Sweid’s” FAZ

“Rarely has anyone more astutely summed up the absurd power of external attributions on self-definition.” Tagesspiegel

“Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Arab-Christian — and even Berlin. Stand-up theater full of ease and open wounds.” Nachtkritik

„Entertaining on the surface, but shocking underneath. And above all: worth seeing.“ Der Freitag

“It’s an evocative, nuanced and, at times, darkly humorous performance”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Edinburgh Reporter

“This play is an extraordinary act of empathy, that neither thinks nor behaves in the way you expect or might want it to.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tom Carter, LondonTheatre1