Intersection

The interactive play Intersection sheds light on coexistence and social integration and promotes understanding between Syrian refugees and local communities. The performance revolves around a filmmaker who interviews Syrian and Jordanian actors to create a film about life in Jordan. The audience learns about the difficulties and challenges faced by Syrian refugees, specific areas of conflict, and how they are resolved to achieve social cohesion. The first scene depicts the conflict that the emigrants face in deciding whether to return to their country or stay in the host country. The second scene revolves around the idea of dividing the Arab countries and the distribution of quotas. The third scene presents the challenges emigrants face in terms of residence, work, and education as well as the problems faced by the host country’s communities. In the fourth scene, a man and his wife disagree over hosting one of the Syrian refugees at their home. The final scene focuses on the problems of the border. Ultimately, none of the actors are happy with the director and they decide to quit, but as they begin to leave they are reminded of the symbolic tree onstage, representing life, hope, heritage, and roots.

Memoirs of A Woman

Memoirs of a Woman narrates the story of a woman’s journey from the dream of a happy home to the nightmare of domestic violence. The play utilizes interactive theater methodology, and tackles the issue of mental and physical abuse inflicted upon women and its effect on the family unit. Through audience participation, Memoirs of a Woman explores the ways and means to prevent domestic violence.

The Incident

The play revolves around a trivial incident that happens to the main character Salma, this incident will change her destiny and her priorities in life and eventually her attitude towards her political stand and involvement. Salma a 35 year old famous Arab actress who is preparing herself to travel to Europe to be honored for her work and achievements hits her eye and left face area with her car door by mistake as she was going to the embassy to start the long visa process. She is informed by her assistant about a schedule change to travel earlier. During the car incident, all her documents including passport, birth certificate, and her Jordanian ID card get lost. To retrieve copies of the documents, Salma has to visit a set of government entities where she experiences a set of incidents that are transformative to her individualism versus the collective activism. She finds herself in a demonstration, then in a reform dialogue mini-conference, then in the artists union, etc, until she reaches the Ministry of Interior where she says out loud her final political statement about revolutions and the power of the people in the Arab region.

Balance

In an ironic style, the playwright makes a carnival of diverse characters who all suffer from the lack of happiness. Every characters appears with its own specific monologue/experience, yet the same character re-emerges again later adding new layers to its tragedy and responding to the issues of the other characters. Almost in a bleak way, every character tries to live with its own lifelessness. In a society where everything seems to be fake, the human existence is void of humanness and of any hope in the future. Hope becomes a sarcastic bleak song delivered during the play. The magical mixture for happiness seems to be the mixture of those characters, who can only be happy by forcing it or faking it. It is a play that highlights the tragic situation of most of young Egyptians who cannot find a future to aspire to, nor hope. The depression of a potential driving force in Egypt, puts an end to the state-diffused illusion that everything here is perfect!

Migrants: An Adaptation

The play focuses on two unlucky strangers and roommates in a new county, a professor in his political exile and the illiterate peasant who has left his family and village for financial stability and freedom. The two of them are friendless, and one of them can’t speak the language of the new place. It’s a night full of memories and wishes, full of fragile dreams and hard reality. It’s New Year Eve, and they have nothing to share except words.

Macbeth: An Adaptation

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are in a nightmarish state which depicts the eternal punishment for their crimes. The story begins with a witch talks about heinous bloodshed while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are dead in body bags , the witch opens the body bags and lady Macbeth rises frantically washes her hand in the air while the witch chops off Macbeth heads and dances with the headless body bringing both back to their memories of their crimes. Three witches are three men in military uniform singing and prophesying that Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland. Macbeth writes the news to Lady Macbeth and telling her that King of Scotland Duncan is coming to visit them, Lady Macbeth tempts Macbeth to kill the king while she kills the guards. The headless body reappears in waltzing with the witch while Lady Macbeth dances with Macbeth and puts on the crown but he feels the guilt of his crime and sees three witches laughing. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are in bed lamenting about their crimes and both go to their doom fate looking at their lost child in a cubed glass while witches sing.

Nora/Nûrê

Theatre Painted Bird, founded in 2000, is the first professional feminist theatre company in Turkey. “Nora/Nûrê”, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, was the first and only Kurdish project of the group. By working with feminist dramaturgy the group found some resemblances between Ibsen’s Nora and the kilam “Saliho and Nûrê” are narrated by dengbêjs. By messing with men’s affairs Nora dishonored Torvald and Nûre dishonored Salih. In the final scene when Nora leaves her Doll House, in the kilam Nûre was killed by her husband. During the play Nûre used different masks. There wasn’t a realistic scenery. The play wasn’t Kurdicized but it unveiled in Kurdish language the same oppression experienced by the women all over the world.

That Time: An Adaptation

The text is a combination of 3 pre-recorded monologues said by A, B, and C. Beckett wrote that “The B story has to do with the young man, the C story is the story of the old man and the A story is that of the man in middle age”. In the performance, 3 actors representing A, B and C were mooving together and whispering the text . The performance was done in an old factory of olive oil from the 18th Century in an isolated venue near a graveyard and a railstation.

The House of Bernarda Alba: An Adaptation

After the funeral of his husband Bernarda tells her five daughters that they must go through an eight year mourning period for her dead husband, father to all of them except the eldest daughter Angustias who is from her first marriage. Bernarda orders La Poncia the housekeeper to close the windows and prevents any connection with the outside world.
She becomes an authoritarian force that controls her five daughters Angustias, Magdalena, Amelia, Martirio and Adela that each wants freedom and love, but only the youngest daughter Adela is brave to show her desire while Bernarda elderly mother María Josefa is also with her dream of lost love. Angustias is expected to be wed to Pepe that creates tensions between other sisters and eventually Adela announces that she has an affair with Pepe and Bernarda runs offstage with a shotgun to shoot the man. Martirio tells a lie that Pepe is dead, Adela hangs herself. After they find the body, Bernarda demands Adela be buried as a virgin.

“Mem” from Alan Tribe

Although the name of the play reminds of the epic titled “Memê Alan”, it is based on a dengbêj (performers recounting narratives) kilam (dengbêjs’ narratives) titled “Memê û Eyşê” (Memê and Eyşê). The play’s literary source isn’t just Kurdish. The story has narrated both Turkish and Kurdish with some differences. In the play Mem, who wants to participate as a Kurd in the war for Jerusalem by Saladin, muslim military leader, with an order from the Hakkari seigniory, encouraged by his mother. Mem’s friend Lewend, who will fight for the sake of Islam and his country, will also leave his children and join the war. Mem has Xezal (his wife), who is the bride of a week yet. Mem prefers to fight for his country and religion and Çavreş (his mother) and Xezal stay together at home. He returns home a year later. However Mem returns and comes to the door like a guest Xezal responds calmly his questions, stating that the Kurds respect their guests. Xezal asks for some signs to make sure of him, and Mem convinces his wife that he is his husband. Mem and Xezal hug and lie down the bed. Meanwhile, Çavreş comes. She suspects that why nobody is opening the door. When she enters, she sees his bride in bed with a man. She spears into his son’s chest. At the end of the play she understands her fault and laments for Mem.