GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — “You are innocent, O Rabih. You are innocent, O Rabih,” the crowd shouted at Rabih, a character in his 20s who for an hour and a half on stage at the Holst Cultural Center in Gaza City represented the Arab citizen, who faces injustice on the street, at work, at home and in prison. “Rabih al-Arabi” ("Arab Spring"), the play directed by Issam Shaheen, may have had some poorly staged scenes, but they were all rich in symbolism. The young Rabih (Spring in Arabic), played by Majed Antar, represents the Arab Spring, which security services and ruling Arab regimes seek to crush.

A cast of more than 20 actors appeared in scenes set in a prison, house, psychiatric clinic and religious hospice. They all played their parts to perfection, greatly entertaining the audience, some in tragic roles and others with great comedy.

The play’s dialogue features Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian accents, in reference to the countries of the Arab revolutions. The play also touches on the tyranny of security services in Arab countries, amid cheers of the slogan of the Egyptian revolution, “Bread, Freedom and Social Justice.”

The experimental play has a mobile set, and the plot plays out over a number of scenes, a technique favored by Shaheen, who counts the Egyptian playwright Lenin al-Ramli among his influences. Shaheen had been absent from the theater scene for four years before making a comeback June 20 with “Rabih al-Arabi,” a move he did not actually plan.