Thanks to the kindest invitation from Nissaf Ben Hafsia (below top left), I led a 3-day workshop with beautiful, energised students at ISAD in December - see my previous Blog about that).
In this Blog, I will share some of what I learned about the network of companies, performers and producers at JTC, many associated with the Arab Theatre Festival network.
Circular from Top Left: Nissaf Ben Hafsia (Festival Director); and the logistics team, Marwa Boubaker; Amal Shrayti; Latifa Gaidi Mokkadem (there was also Malek Ben Khalifa, not shown here).
The practitioners I encountered want to extend and deepen awareness of their theatre making beyond the region, in Europe and beyond, so a colloquium strand of the festival brought together academics, artists and producers to investigate international networking and production. At the festival, there were productions representing France, Italy and Spain as well as companies from the region.
Foyer of Théâtre Al Hamra
For instance, I saw Le Misanthrope by Setp Productions directed by Violette Erhart and Sylvain Martin at Théâtre Al Hamra, where the Artistic Director is a wonderful French-Tunisian, Cyrine Gannoun. And this felt like a night of grand Parisian theatre, performed with confidence and panache by impressive actors. The audience were thrilled, though the complexity and poetry of Molière was a little beyond my level of French. The speed of transitions and the use of a shadow device to represent hedonism and seduction stuck out to me over the text - perhaps more than they would to a native speaker.
Above (L to R): Dr Sami AlJamaan, RT, Mohaned AlHarathi, Ali Elayan.
There are of course Arab and North African performers already at the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, with Shabbak, London, and next February at The Vaults in London. I am sure there could be much more interaction with the UK and I am trying to learn from Prof. Alejandro de los Santos (MAPAS). I am endebted to actor Ali Elayan (Jordan), playwright Dr Sami AlJamaan (Saudi Arabia) and designer Mohanid AlHarathi Saudi Arabia) for their tireless efforts to make me feel welcome during the festival.
(L to R) Khaled Galal, Dr Sami AlJamaan
It was lovely to reconnect with people like actress Ammal Dabas (Jordan), academic Prof. Kassim Bayatli (Italy/Iraq) and producer Fettah Douri (Germany/Morocco) who have taught me so much about theatre in the region, and to reconnect with friends from CIFET - Egyptian actor/director Khaled Galal and Gamal Yakout, president of CIFET, Cairo.
Tuesday 6th December
At Salle 4me Art, a stones throw from Hotel Africa, I saw Bercail - Al Diar by Compagnie Recap'Art directed by Arona Ba from Senegal. I was enthralled by the 'Total Theatre' elements: the dance, music, and ritual images alongside a narrative about Gouré, the 'island of no return' from which so many enslaved souls were shipped to America. In the post-show discussion the company and director pointed to what I had been sensing - that the piece was not trying simply to retrace divisive histories but to draw attention to the horrible proximity of modern slavery and the terrifying ability for humans to accommodate this unless they are alert and outspoken. Nissaf and another director, Hassan Houyati (Senegal), told me about the composition of Senegalese theatre and the tricky balance between narrative and ritual elements like dance and music.
Wednesday 7th December
The hands-down prize winner at the festival in a month that has been outstanding for Morocco (in the FIFA World Cup!) was The Garden of Secrets - Les Jardins des Secrets - Hada'iq Esiraar by Akoun Theatre, directed by Mohamed ElHor. Again, since it was performed in Maghrebi, Arabic and French my strongest impression was about the endlessly inventive scenography. The writer and director was on stage, feeding notes to the actors, moving practical lights close to them in the midst of their emotional turmoil. And two sliding screens opened to reveal a fridge, an emblem of a relationship, and were closed again becoming a wide mirror on the action and the audience. The relationship was with men, or perhaps a particular man, who also appeared as a marble bust under an angle poise light. The affect of the relationship on the women was self-destruction, suicide. And this passed from generation to generation, from mother to daughter. In a moment of particular intensity the audience erupted into applause. Before the post show Q&A, I talked with someone who felt the scale of the design dominated this enigmatic psychological drama, although this didn't come up in the discussion.
A further post show discussion for 'Mine Terrestre' - Lagham Ardi, a Palestinian show that I didn’t see, was really striking for the respect accorded to the writer, George Ibrahim.
George Ibrahim (L) and actor Ghassen AlAshkar, winner Festival Best Actor
He talked with the cold clarity of someone who lives with it everyday - about a state of internal, mental colonisation in relation to power. George Ibrahim talked about occupation as a state of mind in relation to any border - not only for those in Gaza in relation to borders, but for any person in an oppressive situation in relation to mental barriers, thereby making the condition of people in Gaza pertinent to everyone.
Thursday 8th December
I watched 'Anarchy' - Anarchie - Anarkia , a Kuwaiti play, performed by Le Troupe Theatrale du Golf, and directed by Muhammed Al-Ansari at the Mondial. In this story a stubborn old man who has Alzheimers and is losing track, becomes trapped both psychologically and in a fantasy. Cats lurk outside his house. The sense of entrapment was created by a set of interlocking and mobile metal cages moved by the actors, through which the cats seemed to swarm. The apparently countless cats and the neighbours seem grotesquely cartoonish and camp in a sinister way. This was reinforced by pantomimic costumes and nightmarishly narrow beams of light. This show has already been presented in Amman at the Jordan International Liberal Theatre Festival successfully.
Video: Inside the Municipal Theatre
The same evening, at the Municipal Theatre 'Massrah Beladi' I saw 'L' aveuglement' - Blindness - A3ma, with Ali Elayan. Amin Ayouni directed and was designer for a Tunisian company from the Centre National Dramatiques et Sceniques de Djerba. The play, set in a tall white box, was visually striking, with an ensemble choreography against an electric blue backdrop - like a Robert Wilson influenced contemporary dance piece. In a strong opening, people from all walks of life entered from the wings and exited repeatedly, building tension and frenzy. This morphed into a scene with a scaffolding and then hospital beds. We realise that all the characters are blind, after the name of the piece and trapped in an unfamilar space. Although there was very little dialogue it was clear they had few options for release. At some point a character had a radio and perhaps this would be a clue to get them all out of the topor.
Friday 9th December
RT, Mohaned Al Harathi and Ali Elayan
I walked to the Mason de la Culture Ibn Rachiq with Mohammed Azzam and Mohaned Al-Harathi, two stylish gents strolling in national clothing under ornate but fading French balconies.
'The Stranger and The Captain' - L'etranger et le Capitain - El Gharib w'El Naqib, from Saudi Arabia produced by Fen Box Entrainement was directed by Fahd Doussari and drew a big crowd of supporters. In fact there were very large audiences across the festival in every venue I went to and up to 13 performances a day in 9 or 10 venues, plus an outdoor stage. The woman cleaning all the rooms on my floor of the hotel, Sussana, told me she see me at one of the plays and we had a good conversation about theatre in a mix of languages. There was a lot of support for this production from Saudi guests. The contrasting roles - a commissioned soldier and a poor new recruit debate the two worlds, in and outside the army. After a coquettish, clown like entrance, through an intriguing set with a crashed plane, the conversation became almost a philosophical catechism. The Saudi accent, a sort of emphatic classical style again eluded me. But the acting was masterful, controlled energetic and admired by the audience. Over time the young actors will find more internal nuances, more evident in the Moroccon piece but the professionalism and style of this piece were beyond question.
Eizdan - إيزدان produced by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Department of Cinema and Theatre, Forum of Experimental Theatre and directed by Mouhaned Ali brought to mind the Iraqi play I saw in Cairo, Factory Reset. Eizdan was designed by Ali Mahmoud El Soudani. In the centre of the stage was a vast set of cogs, symbolic perhaps of the mind or society, just as in the piece in Cairo, where there was a vast mask centre-stage. Both productions seemd to be grappling with the power of text and the problem of interpretation and faith. The lead performer, or character, in Eizdan was tortured and grasping a tome, while a figure lurked in the background. The programme notes talk about the daily struggle of life in Iraq. The characters learn that they need to atone for a sin that they have not committed. The cogs turn endlessly, then in an amazing transformation which introduces a sense of time, history perhaps, the cogs become the wheels of a film projector casting images against the walls. I thought this was one of the most compelling and beautifully puzzling pieces I saw during the festival.
The show that Susanna saw, and that I revelled in, was presented at Cinema Theatre Le Rio. A company from Sudan, Zones de Production de Spectacles Théâtrale performed 'L’aigle Retrouve son Ailes' - The Eagles Recovers Its Wings - Inasr yastrad Ajnahia. This was cleverly directed by Walid Omar Babakir with close assistance from a designer. The performers began in a sea of plastic bottles. A few of the performers, covered in dusty brown make up sat with their heads kicked back and mouths wide open. More performers, in a company of 14 people, burst out from under the pile of bottles. Just as the noise of crushed plastic seemed to impede the action, the company swept up the bottle in tarpaulin or plastic sheeting and revealed a layer of wood shavings, something like sand. An old man, half naked was smeared with mud, or shit. A marriage took place under a plastic canopy. With all the lyricism of local rituals conducted in spite of waste the simple loving connection and marriage of couples suggested that a community will overcome forces and formal traditions through the spirit of play.
The music and singing was light, as if improvised on the spot, the actors were responsive and natural, stemming from a process that must have involved a free and resourceful devising. This smart piece ended with an image that got people onto their feet, applauding: the actors lifted up two huge sheets of black plastic and rolled the plastic bottles into the orchestra pit, like a tsunami of plastic that threatened to flood the auditorium. A queen was then lifted onto a podium and unfurled long rolls of coloured material raising a pleated fanning crown to her head. What I understood was a pragmatic but epic fairytale that reminded me of Carran Waterfield's book: Redhair and Daffodil Friend, for the queen and the small rituals between friends in the face of climate destruction.
Saturday 10th December
The Garden of Secrets winners: sceongraphy, female performer, and direction.
At the impressive closing ceremony Moroccan artists won awards for direction, scenography and female lead. I sat next to the Iraqi Professor of Theatre from Institute D'Art Dramatique and renewed my encounter with Hana Ben Mouldi Oueslati a theatre teacher working in applied theatre with prisoners in Tunis, who explained the context for the local and international work in Tunisia.
In his recent book featuring interviews with Tunisian artists, Pierre-Noël Denieuil notes the determination of theatre makers to make theatre space whatever the economic conditions , to use theatre for social change and to impress on ministers the value of the jobs, the work and social function of performers (Denieuil, P. 2022. Tunisiens: Lignes de Vie d’un Peuple. Paris; Henry Dougier) This is especially urgent in the context of political and economic difficulties in Tunis. And it is so impressive that in spite of this, so much energy and optimism was evident. I feel revitalised by this visit and I am determined to return the generosity that I experienced.
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