Israeli puppeteer brings a different way to remember the Holocaust in the heart of Stockholm

Forced to hide in a dark small room during the Holocaust, what can three sisters do as they wait for their mother to return? Creating a magical and yet broken world, Israeli artist Yael Rasooly suggests in her play “The house by the lake,” a musical cabaret featuring contemporary puppetry for adults. 

Born in 1983, Rasooly is a theater director, actress and puppeteer. In August, she was invited to present her works during the Pop Up Puppets festival in Stockholm. The festival takes place on several stages at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, one of the largest cultural centers in Europe. It offers workshops and performances from local and international artists.

Since Sweden has been chairing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for the last six months of 2022, Israeli ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman suggested that Rasooly’s work could send an important message about the dangerous consequences of hatred and antisemitism.

Among those who attended the show was IHRA Chair Ambassador Ann Bernes, Cecilia Brink, chairwoman of Stockholm’s city council, and Dr. Katherine Hauptman, newly appointed director of Sweden’s first Holocaust museum, as well as members of the Jewish community and Holocaust survivors.

At the festival, Rasooly also presented her play “Paper Cut,” a one-woman show focusing on a secretary who remains in the office by herself after everyone else has gone home and uses pictures from old magazines to create a world of daydreams.

The artist also offered several workshops and was interviewed on the popular Swedish television program KULTURNYHETERNA.