Itai Erdal’s Soldiers of Tomorrow confronts personal past in Israeli army, at The Cultch from May 6 to 10
Theatre artist’s innovative one-man show mixes memoir and history lesson, with live music by Syrian-born musician Emad Armoush
Soldiers of Tomorrow. Photo by Matt Reznek
The Cultch presents The Elbow Theatre’s Soldiers of Tomorrow at the Historic Theatre from May 6 to 10
HELPED BY A MESMERIZING live score by Syrian-born musician Emad Armoush and an army of toy soldiers, Itai Erdal has crafted a compelling one-man show about a difficult subject.
In Soldiers of Tomorrow, which makes its local return at The Cultch next week, the well-known Vancouver theatre artist confronts his time as a conscript in the Israel Defense Forces, grappling with his role as an “oppressor” and the guilt and trauma he still carries today.
The title is drawn from the day when his eight-year-old Israeli nephew came home from school with a box to fill with goods for soldiers on the front lines. On it, the teacher had written: “To the soldiers of today from the soldiers of tomorrow.” When Erdal was young, Israelis spoke of a time when there might be peace—and no need for conscription of all Jewish 18-year-olds—a goal that, amid rising conflict, he observes, seems increasingly impossible.
A lot has happened since Erdal debuted this artful mix of memoir, history lesson, and theatre project in 2023—including a drastic escalation in conflict in the Middle East—making his innovative, personal, and brutally honest work all the more resonant. No doubt, it’s loaded territory. In an interview before the show’s local premiere, he told Stir that “me as a Jewish person who loves Israel and all my loved ones live there and I’m very proud to be Jewish: I can criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic.”
Since then, the show—directed by Anita Rochon, written with theatre artist Colleen Murphy, and featuring evocative lighting by Alan Brodie—has also toured to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won the 2023 Lustrum Award. Reviews there called it "innovative", "illuminating", and "sensitive and engaging"—words one does not always associate with debates about the Arab-Israeli conflict. 
Soldiers of Tomorrow. Photo by Matt Reznek
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