“Gaza Metro” opens the performances of the Arab Theater Festival in Baghdad

2024-01-11 10:55:53

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January 11, 2024

14:55 pm

“Gaza Metro” opens the performances of the Arab Theater Festival in Baghdad

Amid a festive atmosphere, the activities of the 14th session of the Arab Theater Festival kicked off on Wednesday evening in Baghdad, amid a large presence presented by the Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani, Ismail Abdullah, Secretary-General of the Arab Theater Authority, and Dr. Jabbar Jodi, head of the Iraqi Artists Syndicate.
During the opening ceremony hosted by Al-Rashid Theater, Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani gave a speech in which he emphasized the importance of art in life and the role played by the authority, describing the organization of the current session of the festival in Baghdad as a historic moment, as Iraq continued to seek this organization in a city known for culture.
Jabbar Joudi pointed out that the festival landed in Baghdad, after several Arab stops, to bring together creative people, beauty makers and soft power symbols, in that landmark event organized by the Commission in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, the Artists Syndicate, and the Cinema and Theater Department, pointing out that They were keen to make this session the largest and most exceptional in form and content. For the first time, it will be held over the course of nine days, hosting 20 performances and 136 researchers in the intellectual conference, issuing 20 new books about Iraqi theatre, honoring 36 winners in competitions, and the participation of about 600 theater people. Arab from all Arab countries, in addition to honoring 23 Iraqi playwrights.
Jodi stressed the successful cooperation with the Commission and the work to employ all the energies and capabilities of Iraqi artists, in order to achieve the mission of cultural work, and to continue the march towards a new and renewed Arab theatre.
*interaction
The audience interacted greatly with the moving speech delivered by Ismail Abdullah, who initially thanked the Prime Minister for his generous patronage and unlimited support for the festival. He also thanked the Iraqi Minister of Culture, who was keen to keep up with all the details of the festival and the steps involved in organizing it.
Abdullah said: “Today in Baghdad, we raise the banner of theater as a victory for beauty, truth, and goodness, as a victory for life in the face of death, and to declare our worth for life and creativity, for the creative spirit of Arabism is alive and does not die despite everyone who wants it to disappear.” He added, saying: “We, the playwrights, create our dream from the heart of our wound. We believe it and believe it, and we go with it and with it until the end, with faith and security to keep the flame of awareness alive and a leader. We are the flag when all the flags shake, we are the insight when the visions are obscured by darkness, and we are the word when fear swallows tongues and voices become silent.” ». Abdullah revealed an initiative by the Authority specifically to support playwrights in the Gaza Strip, which is the Authority’s duty towards them and its keenness to enable them to continue their journey.
Veteran Lebanese playwright Nidal Al-Ashqar delivered a speech by the Arab Theater Authority, addressing the role of the “Father of Arts” in a world dominated by wars and conflicts.
The opening ceremony included a dance performance by an Iraqi band that carried a lot of meanings and connotations. Ismail Abdullah honored 23 Iraqi artists. The artist Nidal Al-Ashqar and the Iraqi Artists Syndicate were also honored, and the festival’s jury was introduced, headed by the Syrian Ayman Zidane and with membership:
Hossam Abu Aisha (Palestine), Dr. Sameh Mahran (Egypt), Ali Al-Falah (Libya), and Dr. Hisham Zein El Abidine (Lebanon), concluding the concert with a singing interlude.
* Different work
Following the opening ceremony, Al-Rashid Theater hosted the first show at the festival entitled: “Gaza Metro” from Palestine, written by: Khawla Ibrahim, prepared by: Muhammad Abu Sal, directed by: Hervé Loychemole. The work is considered a different sign in Arab theater in terms of idea and direction, as the image and the moving background “projector” play an essential role in conveying the meanings and messages of the theatrical work, and with these techniques the work was able to pass on its political and intellectual load and the worlds of misery and difficult situations.
The work discusses the idea of nostalgia within a single geography among people separated by conditions of war and persecution, as their countries became isolated islands in which there was no communication, meeting between families, or exchange of visits, where fragmentation and division are the master of the situation, and this is reflected in the souls that remain in a longing for one cohesion, so that There should be no barriers or isolated areas.
The work expresses that dream with multiple levers and connotations, including the “metro,” which symbolizes movement between parts of one country, which reinforces the idea and value of meeting and communication between families who were separated by the fate of war, and who became strangers in their country, so that each region became an independent state.
The show opens with a scene in the metro station, where a girl is lying on one of the seats while falling into a deep sleep, and the dream takes her to imagine that she is in the metro station of Gaza, that city that has become isolated due to the war, making it difficult to visit it except through dreams of the earth becoming one that includes its people and inhabitants without barriers. Its people live in goodness, love and peace, far from the sounds of cannons and the roar of warplanes that throw their weight on the city, turning it into ruin and spreading misery.
The director of the show reinforces the idea of the dream by assuming an imaginary place and using the “projector” to reflect the diaries of the people of Gaza, the afflicted city, their steadfastness in the face of the siege and their yearning for freedom, which is the dream that the Palestinians in the rest of the country share with them, as the person traveling between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is in need. To obtain special permits, which are usually granted only in special cases during holidays or for treatment purposes, the “projector” also reflects the imaginary sound of the metro, its movement, and its movement from one place to another, and it carries and expresses stray dreams.
The method and idea of designing the show seemed innovative and unconventional, with a clear effort to depart from the familiar and repetitive. While the issue of the longing for communication between Palestinians at home and the diaspora has been frequently raised by playwrights, the director of the work wanted to break away from this repetition through an artistic thesis that distinguishes the work. And to increase its value, he used a simple decor that was used in a way that served the idea of the show, which is the decor represented by those seats with a white background that sometimes looked like a wall and at other times video clips of real events that the Gaza Strip witnessed, including bombing and destruction due to effects. Audio, and this is a technique that the director wanted to have a direct impact on the audience in order to experience those difficult circumstances that the Palestinian person lived through, and he had what he wanted, as the audience interacted a lot with the work.
*Dreamy atmosphere
Perhaps the director’s ingenuity lies in the dreamy atmosphere he created, and the open dialogues that seem incomplete and will not be complete unless the great Palestinian dream is achieved, which was expressed by the dreamy journey of the heroine of the work from Jenin to Gaza, as this dream, along with the political, cultural and intellectual messages And the social situation that it carries is a daily reality that the Palestinian person lives with.
The movement of the actors was wonderful, especially the two heroes of the show or dream, the girl and the worker at the metro station, and the deep dialogues between them included many perceptions and philosophical visions.
The work expressed the Palestinian reality in its current form, and took the recipient to imaginary worlds, but it reflects the life experienced not only in Palestine, but also in the entire world. The show rejects conflict, wars, division, and fragmentation, and calls for peace and acquaintance between different cultures.