Overview
The veteran filmmaker and theatre tactician Amos Gitai returns with a one-off memorial performance, Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of a Murder, on November 1 at Tel Aviv’s Heichal HaTarbut. Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the murder that shook Israel, the production reimagines the 24 hours leading up to Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination on November 4, 1995. Gitai blends cinema, theatre, and music to create a living panorama of a moment when a nation’s discourse turned in a new, painful direction.
What to Expect on November 1
The stage arrangement fuses documentary texture with theatrical immediacy. The piece will incorporate the widow Lea Rabin’s testimony from that fateful night in Rabin Square (Kikar Rabin) and will be performed in the company of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. The production features prominent Israeli actresses Keren Mor and Yael Abecassis, whose performances anchor the emotional throughline of the event while the stage is interwoven with moving images and sound collage. The show will also draw from Gitai’s 2015 film, Rabin, the Last Day, stitching a cinematic thread into the live experience.
Performers and Collaborators
Keren Mor and Yael Abecassis take central roles, delivering a performance infused with memory, hesitation, and moral reflection. The orchestra’s textures mingle with multimedia visuals to transport audiences into the atmosphere of those days, while the testimonies and archival imagery confront the complexities of a society grappling with political violence and rhetoric that incited unrest.
From Avignon to Tel Aviv: A 30-Year Retake
Nearly ten years after its premiere at the Avignon Festival in France, the work returns to Israel for the 30th anniversary of Rabin’s murder. Gitai has long used art to interrogate the forces of polarization that culminated in Rabin’s death, and this revival invites viewers to reassess the events through a contemporary lens. The integration of Lea Rabin’s account alongside a live orchestral score aims to renew the conversation about responsibility, memory, and the responsibilities of a democratic society.
Why It Matters in 2025
In a moment of intensified political division, the production seeks to translate a historical wound into a cautionary tale about civic dialogue. By pairing archival material with live performance, Gitai prompts audiences to consider how language, media, and public leadership influence the climate in which violence can take root. The piece does not merely recount the past; it stitches it to the present, underscoring why collective memory remains essential for the health of a democracy.
About the Production
Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of a Murder is a cross-genre meditation—cinema, theatre, and music converge to illuminate the hours that preceded a defining moment in Israeli history. In addition to the live performances, the show integrates imagery and excerpts from Rabin, the Last Day, creating a dialogue between filmic memory and stage immediacy. Gitai’s approach emphasizes mood, atmosphere, and the flow of information, offering a textured portrait of a country navigating grief, anger, and the search for meaning in the aftermath of violence.
Audience Takeaway
Audience members can expect a contemplative experience that respects the gravity of the events while inviting critical reflection on how a society remembers and learns from its darkest chapters. The work stands as a memorial that refuses to overlook the rhetoric that can lead to catastrophe, asking viewers to examine the present-day relevance of those tragic hours and the ongoing work of democratic resilience.
