DUBAI: Palestinian comedian Alaa Shehada this week won a Scotsman Fringe First Award for his one-man show “The Bridge,” his second in consecutive years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The award was one of six announced in the first round of this year’s prizes, which have been awarded since 1973. Winners are decided by a panel of critics currently chaired by . and are decided by a panel of critics chaired by theater critic Joyce McMillan.
“We are absolutely honored to receive back-to-back Fringe Firsts,” the Palestine Comedy Club, which produced the show, said in a post on its social media channels.
“The Bridge” is a 70-minute production which follows Shehada as he carries a bottle of olive oil from his mother in Jenin to her sister in Amman, crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan. The distance is 180 meters but the journey can take up to 12 hours.
“It’s driving everyone mad,” Shehada told Arab News this month. “It’s a very simple right to have, which is traveling from your house to Jordan. Why does it take all of that?”
He described families leaving home at 3 a.m. to reach a bridge that sometimes closed before they could cross, leaving them to try again the next day. “You have children, old people, families crossing, and it’s a suffering.
The piece was both written and performed by Shehada, with Sam Beale as director and co-writer.
Shehada won his first Fringe First in 2025 for “The Horse of Jenin,” which was also named among Rolling Stone’s top shows. Asked whether recognition had changed anything, he joked: “My ego got bigger.”
He added: “I understood how much people are willing to hear the Palestinian story internationally. That’s why I wanted to bring more and more stories.”
“The Bridge,,” performed at Assembly Roxy from Aug. 6-16, returns to the Fringe at Assembly George Square Studios from Aug. 28-30. Shehada is also performing “The Horse of Jenin” at the Pleasance until Aug. 30. “The Bridge” transfers to the Bush Theatre in London from Oct. 28 to Nov. 11.
