BRAVEHEART
Collective Ma’louba
From a Play About Trauma to a Play Transmitting Trauma
A young woman living in a small city disappears. No trace of her remains, as if she never existed. No one asks about her. The only person who knew her was a young man who had been in a relationship with her before her disappearance. The play recounts the last days of the young woman before the incident. The play accuses the young man, interrogates him, and tries to extract information from him by force. The play is certain the young man is involved in the woman's disappearance but fails to convict him. Nonetheless, it punishes him, fully aware that this is pure violence.
In this play, the absence of political efficacy threatens entire communities and drives them to seek individual salvation either by integrating into the system or stepping outside of it. In both cases, the individuals from these communities are left alone, facing the explicit threat of disappearance. Disappearance becomes an invisible, inaudible space filled with victims, criminals, and, of course, violence.
The theatre maker initially sought to create a play defending the right of individuals to lose hope. But he later realized that this defense was essentially a defense of the right of those who have lost hope to exercise violence—either against others or themselves. And the violence of the hopeless is merely a desperate expression of their right to change the world.
Amid the whirlwind of panic attacks, antidepressants, drugs, therapy sessions, and poverty, there is a brave heart still beating. Through calm and silence, the play tries to locate it, listen to its voice, and turn that voice into words. But will it succeed?
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Ma’louba – Arabic for Upside Down – was founded as a collective by Syrian theatre makers, who graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus and are now based across Europe.
Collective Ma’louba’s works reflect on the lived experiences of Arabs in a global context: their historical, political and colonial links and the unsettled status of existences. Collective Ma’louba’s works are always topical and include themes of migration, identity, culture, freedom and the nature of theatre.
Their creations Your Love Is Fire (2017), Days In The Sun (2018), Reine Formsache (2019), The Return Of Danton (2021) and Up There (2022) have toured extensively including Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim; Kammerspiele, München; Made in Germany Festival, Stuttgart; Summerhall, Edinburgh; and Novi Sad, Serbia.
Collective Ma’louba was initiated in 2016 by Theater an der Ruhr to offer professional working conditions to Syrian artists in Germany. It was company in residence until 2021 and still rehearses there.
“A nuanced piece of meta theatre about revolution and German theatre … a clever, multi-dimensional piece of writing.” The Stage on Mudar Alhaggi’s The Return of Danton (2021)
“This is an intelligent and important play, that hopefully will be recognised beyond a niche context, but seen as a mature contribution to the European theatre sector.” - Nachtkritik on Wael Kadour & Mohamad Al Rashi’s Up There (2022)
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Text & Staging: Wael Kadour
Actors: Hala Al Syasneh and Wael Kadour
Scenography & Technical Director: Ikyeon Park
Sound Design & Music: Vincent Commaret
Lighting Design: Franck Besson
Artistic Collaborator: Jean-Christophe Lanquetin
Translation - French: Simon Dubois & Annamaria Bianco
Translation & Subtitles - German: Sandra Hetzl
Assistant Director: Tabea Papritz
Production Assistant: Wisam Atfah & Abedalwahab Arnaba Alkhordahji
Intern: Mohammad Fares
Credit Photo: Tammam Alomar - Armes inattendues - Kalachnikov à Paris - 2023
Coproduction: Le Quartz – Scène Nationale de Brest; Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi, Linguistic Diversity Program; Theater an der Ruhr supported by The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Support: Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC); Departmental Council of Boûches du Rhône - Departmental Center for Creation in Residence Domaine de l'Etang des Aulnes; Ettijahat - Zad: Miles for Connections
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For more information, check availability, please contact eckhard@eckhardthiemann.com.