The performance discusses the ruthless migration scene that captures media attention today and triggers deep concerns on a worldwide scale using puppetry, contradicting the image engraved in the minds of many: that this type of theater is limited to children entertainment.
The performance, for the most part, avoids the tragedy in approaching this issue; it tackles it using expressions that hold lightness, satire, fantasy, playfulness, magic and theater tricks to speak with the audience about the difficult situation of migration in a light and entertaining style that falls under the «Magic Box (The puppet theater).»
This silent performance steps lightly out of the norms of the puppet show; all of its components on stage change into puppets: from farm animals cowering in the village not spared by death and aircraft rockets pounding the small village, to the traveler’s suitcase that refuses to leave, the boats of immigrants whose fate and that of their passengers are played with by the waves and the big raging sea that swallows up tens of people by the day, along with their dreams, their stories and their tragedies… They are all puppets that join the actors and interact on stage.
I wanted this show to be silent, and its pace accompanied by musical elements, that is at times performed live and recorded at others, out of willingness to put across how the issue of immigration goes beyond language and territory and willingness that the show goes, with its target audience, beyond language and territory as well.
The props we have used to design the stage sets and puppets are all derived from the kinds of things typically found in a refugee’s rucksack. Newspapers, plastic bags, and cardboard boxes. They are also a sign of the immigrant’s vulnerability against the machine of oppression and war and the tough journey.
The show that plays for nearly fifty minutes tells a story, narrated by Scheherazade to Shahryar, of a young man who lives in a village in a country in the East; the village comes under war, which compels him to leave. The chapters of the story then unfold between the peaceful cardboard village before being hit by rockets and the thoughts of migration that cross the young man’s mind; he ends up amidst the waves of the sea, off of the European dream costs and amid the callous waves and their dreadful rumble. The ending is open, same as the question that finds no answer: Should people be fleeing war into the risk of riding the sea and the potential death that rises with every wave? Or should they stay in the country, with the daily possibility of death with every shot? This resembles the immigrants’ internal psychological paradox of staying in their birthplace where dangers reside or deracinating themselves into a safe country that looks nothing like them.
«A Thousand and One Titanics» toured in two theater festival in Sweden and Denmark, as well as visiting refugee communities in these two countries. It then moved to Beirut, then to the Syrian and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and finally to the Festival of Carthage in Tunisia.
The following dialogue took place with the director of the play Mahmoud Hourani, a British Palestinian residing in Beirut:
How did you come to choose this topic?
The migration issue has become a part of our daily living, hunting us down in daily news, the news we listen to, and the painful scenes we watch through the media. Therefore, the topic imposed itself upon us and we decided to address it in our play.
Why the name «A thousand and one Titanics»?
The painful sinking of the Titanic ship took place in the early twentieth century, and coincidentally, that ship carried migrants abroad too… These days, a boat or a ship sinks each day on its way out from our country carrying migrants, and it sinks tragically in the middle of the sea.
Does the play carry a message deeper than just the story of a migrant human being?
Yes. The play recounts the story of a migrant, but it might try to state that the migrant is not necessarily a suspect or an accused person. The migrant is a person who once had a home, a farm, a window, a land, and then circumstances led him or her to leave his life in his home country and escape to the country of others…which are circumstances we should all be familiar with.
What does the presence of Scheherazade, Shahryar and the A Thousand and One Nights atmosphere mean in the first and last chapters of the play?
The whole world knows about our country in the East through A Thousand and One Nights, and probably the whole world is curious about the East that attracts many westerners who are interested in its charm and splendor… But the East today is not similar to what is has engraved in the typical memory. Often when we would be listening to the news of Baghdad these days, we’d think: «If Scheherazade lived in Baghdad nowadays, she would have sought refuge in one of the safe countries.»
On another hand, we wanted, through A Thousand and One Nights feel that is present in the performance, to state that there are no beautiful stories coming from our countries these days that are told. Unfortunately, the only stories are terrifying and calamitous… The Magic Carpet itself does not constitute a solution in our country anymore. A visa maybe is more important than moving on the Magic Carpet.
Your play took place in light of what is happening in Syria and the massive Syrian migration. Is it about Syrian people in particular?
What is happening to our people in Syria is really sad and painful, but our play is about every human being who was forced to migrate and leave his country, about the atrocity and consequences of war. This has happened and might happen in many places. It might be in Yemen or Gaza or South of Lebanon or Colombia or Aleppo.
Do you think one can approach a hard subject such as migration in a style that verges on irony, same as you did?
Yes, it is very possible, and it was intentional in our performance. We wanted to present the subject in an artistic and human form as much as possible, to guarantee that we are addressing the heart and mind of the spectator. We wanted to be closer to the heart of the spectator, instead of presenting a tragic case in a tragic way that increases the pain. The crew of the play comprises a number of refugees. I myself am unfortunately originally a refugee.