2024-04-11 10:53:17
Yesterday, Wednesday, Le Monot Theater in Beirut announced the cancellation of its performances of an artwork by Lebanese-Canadian writer and director Wajdi Mouawad, after a judicial notice against the latter on the grounds of his accusation of normalization with Israel, and “serious threats” received by “some artists and technicians.” , according to what the theater said.
The judicial report requested the arrest of Moawad, the director of the prominent French theater “La Colline”, “for the crime of communicating with the Israeli enemy,” in view of what he described as his “history of normalization” with him.
Show in Tel Aviv
The “Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon” had demanded stopping the performance of the play “A Wedding Feast for the Dwellers of the Cave,” after submitting a statement to the concerned authorities, “to prevent normalization and whitewashing of the crimes of the Israeli enemy,” according to the campaign’s statement.
The campaign said that Mouawad had previously presented a play entitled “All Birds,” funded by the Israeli Embassy in Paris, at the end of 2017 at the French National Theater “La Colin,” which is the theater he manages. His play was presented at the “Camere” Theater in Tel Aviv.
For its part, Le Monot Theater regretted, in a statement issued yesterday, “announcing the cancellation of the world premiere of Loujdi Mouawad’s play Journée de Noces chez les Cromagnons, scheduled to take place on April 30.”
“Threats to artists”
The theater explained in its statement that “this difficult decision was taken due to the unprecedented pressures and serious threats to which the Mono Theater and some artists and technicians were exposed, by a party that not only resorted to all means of intimidation, and not only broadcasted hostile expressions or defamatory allegations, but also filed a report against… International writer and director Wagdy Moawad before the Military Public Prosecution.”
“The safety of our employees, technical teams and our audience is an absolute priority for us,” he added. While the theater affirmed its “permanent commitment to freedom of expression,” it promised “to move forward in presenting the best theatrical works, despite all obstacles.”
Theater director Josiane Boulos told Agence France-Presse: “The actors participating in the play have been subjected to harassment via their phones in the last two weeks, and we as a theater have also been subjected to harassment. After filing a judicial report against Mouawad, we can no longer take the risk.” She added: “It is very unfortunate that we have to cancel a work of this level, especially since the actors are all Lebanese.”
Notification before the court
The non-governmental “Representatives of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners” announced in a statement on Monday that a lawyer submitted to his agency on behalf of seven former detainees in Israel “a report before the Military Public Prosecution of the crime of communicating with the Israeli enemy and violating the boycott of Israel law” against Moawad, in which he requested “assigning the competent authorities to stop… His play was presented and his informant was arrested for the crime of communicating with the Israeli enemy.
The Commission considered that Moawad’s plays were “funded by the Israeli enemy” and that he was spreading the “idea of normalization” with it.
The play, which Moawad originally wrote, was supposed to be presented in French in the Lebanese dialect on the Beirut stage, with most of its roles played by Lebanese actors.
Boulos wrote on her personal Facebook page: “The farther we go, the more they want to push us. I feel extremely disgusted. They are still the same ones who do not support cultural radiation,” according to her description.
The play, which was scheduled to be shown until May 19, deals with the story of a Lebanese family living amidst daily bombings and power outages during the war that Lebanon witnessed between 1975 and 1990.
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