It is the late summer of 2013 and the situation in Beirut remains tense. The effects of the Syrian civil war and the dislocations this conflict has caused to Lebanon’s landscape are to be felt everywhere. What’s more, the country is flooded with war refugees. Those who have relatives or friends in Beirut find shelter; this is also the case for well-networked Syrian artists who have had to leave their homeland since the revolution started. Thus, two directors and authors portrayed in this book, Raghda Al Sharani and Mohammad Al Attar, are presently living in Beirut.

The majority of the refugees, however, are placed in new and provisional, or old and completely overcrowded, Palestinian refugee camps. In either case, living conditions are unacceptable, but the Lebanese authorities are intentionally preventing an improvement to the infrastructure: they argue that this would influence the refugees willingness to return home once the conflict ends. And so it is left to the NGOs and private charitable initiatives to cushion the refugees’ daily fight for survival. One of these initiatives is called Butterfly Effect and is considered to be a ‘theatrical’ aid project. The actors Jalal Ataweel and Louise Abdul started it in 2011, and...