UP THERE
Collective Ma’louba
A play by Wael Kadour & Mohammad Al Rashi.
Syria, early 1990s: In a women's prison, a group of political prisoners perform Henrik Ibsen's play The Lady from the Sea - an affront to the prison administration, which wants to stop the performance.
Today, 30 years later, a Syrian author living in exile is trying to write a play about this true event, but he is struggling with his task: What artistic or political value does his project have? Why should he tell the story of these women from his present position in exile? A way out of this creative crisis is finally revealed to him by a woman who saw the play when she was a young prison inmate. She begins to tell the author about what she saw and inspires him to find the women involved in the performance. With each of her tales, a new chapter in the story reveals itself....
We watch the exciting reconstruction of a memory: the author is Wael Kadour, two of the women who were on stage in the prison in 1991, Hend Alkahwaji and Wejdan Nassif, are now the players of their own story - after the Syrian Revolution and in exile in a distant country: speaking freely about what happened has now become possible.
-
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)
-
Co-produced by Theater an der Ruhr, Supported by: Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW and Ibsen scope, Ettijahat-Independent Culture, Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy)
-
For more information, check availability, please contact eckhard@eckhardthiemann.com.
Upcoming dates
Coming soon
