The Arab man’s idea of theater is one. That speech is an organic art. An image of a deadman dreaming of life. Since the mid-twentieth century, compelling moments had illuminated Syrian theater; no one remembers them now, none of the two audiences of the war in Syria. Main doorway to what does not count as an art of speech. «The People of the Cave» by Fawazal-Sajer, «An evening with Abu Khalil Qabbani», and «Forget Herostratus». Tens of titles burn with the fire of anxiety of civilizations. That was on one bank. On the other bank, attempts of metaphor or interpretation of the fascinating essences of the different paths in the world were many. The «Shawk Theater’s» (Theater of Thorns) experience is an essence of Syrian theater. The conscience of the theater world is an essence of Syrian theater. Where determined attempts were made to institutionalize the theater world, with buildings and structures erected away from the vibrations.
Theater took the high ground on the authority’s interpretations of reality and the field. The gulf between the two is wide. The theater build tiers on the ground of reality, as well as layers of narration were erected in the theater.
No one remembers anymore because the relationship with the environment is no longer confined to its relationship to the theater, to the aesthetic propensities of contemporary practices alone. As the tumult of war has eclipsed all attempts at analysis of the relationship of the past to the present, defining the latter in terms of an extension of the former. For Syria possessed the scriptures of theatre by luring in and hunting down metaphors. The national theater, the traveling theater, the workers’ theater. No one remembers anymore because the five-year war did not compel Syrian dramatists to create prose in theater but to scatter the theater with war. Until parts of the components of this theater–faces that cut the distance to «the happy time» and faces still lying bare in the open cruel, realistic and arbitrary times–until these faces move to other counties, other pavements, other tones, where it seemed that they were preparing for the entrance of other images of Syrian theater on paths that did not get shorter and won’t get shorter as the war drags on. Nothing to panic about here, except for good citizens preoccupied with providing for their burdensome days in faraway countries after the vessels carrying their dreams crashed on the shores of new cities and their neglected classes.
Since then, Syrian dramatists have been expanding the circle of their presence in Lebanon instead of decisively changing the rules of the game. For the Syrian theater presence today is a bridge to its previous presence in Lebanon during the Syrian war. A space that does not provide answers to the essential issues, where this art is deemed a linguistic phenomenon. A phenomenon that does not arouse the enthusiasm but of drinking buddies in digging up the remains of looted times and aborted dreams. Nothing remarkable beyond this fact. The Lebanese contributed, in the words of some Syrian dramatists, to concepts of sharing what is sensed between the aesthetic dimension of art and its other dimensions. The social dimension leads. For alignment has pushed the theater into embarking without a search for the new visible aesthetic language. A language that would enrich and change how the Arabs perceive this art. No hyperbole here, as many affirm that the presence of the Syrian theater experience in Lebanon during the past four to five years is a presence of using theater in the ongoing conflict in Syria, in translating the audience’s language to the stage, rather than the language of art or the artist. Thus theater has become a public place. A fixed place that does not liberate its practitioners from the trap of populism. An audience of the neighborhood’s residents. Not a mixed audience of this neighborhood’s residents and those of other neighborhoods. Instincts of life more than a distinction of life. Wael Ali’s «You Know I Do Not remember» trapped creativity in the manifestations of external movement, as part of a voyage prepared to narrate the biography of a man who opposed power in the past years. A former detainee recounts his experience of prison and detainment without creating what the dramatist usually shares with the audience. Because the audience of the show is ready. A play by someone from the opposition. The audience of the play is from the opposition. Everyone realized that if they stepped into Tournesol Theater, what the Europeans call theater does not exist. They did not realize it, because they placed themselves in the folds of the narrative, while they were at home or in the other available spaces for their meetings. An audience on the stage, not in the hall, surrounded the former prisoner. The latter did not narrate his story or the story of those who stood by him during that period, because he was responding to the questions of a man with a clear political stance, reaffirming them as he reminded the audience through photographs and filmed excerpts of events from the man’s experience, the gentle man, the man fretting from the people flocking around him. Fretting even more over the basis of the relationship between him and those who want to increase the audience’s trust in him by uncovering even more of his – the narrator’s – losses. No basis for interpretation. Because the theater has bound itself here to occupying pure politics, a platform whose terminology cannot be found in the dictionary but rather in the book of war, death, killing, destruction and fragmentation. The man’s presence was heavy, he was muttering rather than narrating, because narration in this case does not liberate. Because narration here organizes the gathering, organizes speech in a specific space, in ready-made space. We observe through political generalizations and in a rush, scattered exhibits, not parts of a show unified in form. An old «Hyde Park».
Tournesol Theater is one of the bridges of «opposition shows.» A bridge to bring the show its volume of audiences, by scrambling audience and speech, nothing more. It has nothing to do with curiosity. The relationship between theater and play is based on political urgency. An urgency that provides ties between the play’s team and the theater administration. The guest show did not get an adventure. Adventures of touch and adventures of sight. Because it disrupted the concept of national identity, through the disruption of the concept of identity of the Lebanese. The message of one brother becomes the message of two brothers. A shared message, a shared handwriting, shared ink and shared words. Suspicion grows, not the opposite, as mines increase instead of dismantling previous mines. Thus the Syrian play sticks to the Lebanese mural with its dialogues made of tense, amputated phrases and its fragmented scenes. Thus the Syrian play finds itself in the Lebanese counterculture. Remnants on ruins. No essence, no plots. Because the dialects of life – the joy of working in theater is a dialect of life – have stopped rotating, since the process of restoration of the human soul has come to resemble those popular plastic surgeries.
No networks for interpreting artistic and cultural compositions or trends. For interpretation here refers to interpreting reality on the ground of reality. As the dramatist or theater owner perceives reality. A reality with ties to exclusive ready-made contexts on the territory of war and on the territory of the one heading the theater. A head of theater preoccupied with determining the direction instead of resorting to a compass. Creativity is not a precondition to the relationship between the two. There is something dubious. Thus news recurred of threats received by the administration of Tournesol Theater as it insisted on showing «You Know I Don’t Remember.»
One of the telling signs in this context was that an online newspaper proposed that I write about Wael Ali’s performance. Then, it contacted me again to ask me to write about another play. Because a certain Syrian oppositionist – at the newspaper – had insisted on publicizing it after detecting in it beforehand the call to prayer of the faithful and hymns of the opposition. The newspaper published the two articles (mine and that of a Syrian colleague) within days of each other. No wonder that a love relationship developed between said colleague and the Syrian performance. Whereas I was tied to it by a bitter sweet relationship.
The colleague pumped her political stance in the play’s atmosphere. A great drawback. Two conforming positions. The conformity created an uproar that overshadowed the elements of the show – its rare, artistic elements. The result: a play of alerts and criticism that does not alert because it is not criticism. A clamorous chaos. A biennale not a play. The theater offers a favor here. Theater does not offer anything but the plague. Excommunicating the other by printing and publishing long lists of accusations. The play is no longer an event. It has become an occasion. The world of criticism, at this time, has become a host of primitive ideas at an age of active and productive digital products. Ideas that do not have any power to subjugate theater with all its rightful intellectual, cultural, historical and political fields. Theater is just a corpse of itself.
Syrian theatre shows have chosen here to arm themselves with political machismo. Every human is a political macho in Lebanon. No place for theater then. No probing of depths. Theater is a flat land. Part of the Lebanese mobilized to strategically lay the groundwork for the presence of part of the Syrian theater in Lebanon. An existential presence.The Lebanese people’s upbringing has something to do with this, with its ready-made chemistry to form reactionary bands. The chemistry between «some» and the «other» (the Lebanese and the Syrian or the Lebanese and the French alike) is available to every applicant as long as the two parties are in agreement, prior to agreement. An agreement that distills the chemistry of happiness from the raging images of war, on the edges of devastated towns and villages. Any talk of Lebanese racism, is talk with no visionary insight. No racism. This is a problematic that dominates another space not that of theater.
Those who work at Tournesol Theater preserve the banks of the Arabic language through their relationship to Syrian plays with goals to achieve triumph over the other side through skills and opportunities. Hanane Hajj Ali, the playwright, Roger Assaf’s wife and founder of Tournesol, has a clear political stance. A stance that reinforces the stances of dramatists of the opposition by Tournesol putting on Syrian works characterized by war concepts and not those of qualitative accumulation. To come close to opposition plays is to come close to the special sound layers. The pillar of the new history. This is a sensitive issue that not many delve into. Every question in this field is a voyage into the unknown. An unfulfilled visa. That is natural before the single shared desire where visions are related to the many flashes of dream and fear. No one will share with the other what they are thinking. What he strives to receive and accomplish. Every time I asked, the one I asked became a portrait hanging on the walls of the city. Ghassan Massoud explained this by the fact that the Syrian artist’s fall into the abyss of the Syrian war is a free fall. The war knocked him off with a stunning blow. No identity checks for Syrians because the Syrian presents his identity on his body. His political identity. When I asked Hanane Hajj Ali about some of the dramatists, she set me on the tracks to the «dramaturge» at Babel Theater. Another theater that hosted other plays. There, at the theater located on Hamra Street, on the side of AUBMC, works a young man by the name of Muhammad Issam Qaddour. A young, quiet, polite and cautious man. The young man with his dreadlocks affirmed that Syrian shows at this theater are neither for nor against the Syrian regime, neither for nor against the Syrian opposition. This a precondition of speech in these difficult days. Theaters are spaces. That’s true. But theaters use any methods to survive amidst the economic crisis. Methods of influence are present but they are limited. Their features won’t become any clearer. For Syrian plays are few on Lebanese stages. The letter C cannot be born out of the womb of M when we compare the numbersof Syrian playswith Lebanese plays. A letter cannot be born out of another letter. Among the dozens of Lebanese plays on Lebanese stages there are a few Syrian plays. Some Lebanese plays come to the rescue of their playwrights in translating their anxieties. Other plays do not come to the rescue of other playwrights. The Syrian play does not come to the rescue of the Syrian playwright. Because Syrian time is different from Lebanese time. Syrian time does not have the patience of the wondrous Lebanese time. Lebanese plays knock on the door of time with wondrous softness and patience. Talking to Muhammad Qaddour is more of a surgical operation. He emotionally defended Hanane Hajj Ali. The ritual of birth of one from another. Muhammad Qaddour was born on the tongue of Hajj Ali. And here Hanane is born adult on the tongue of Muhammad Qaddour. I did not reveal to Qaddour that Hanane directed me to him. The young man reaffirmed that Hanane is a woman of «directions.» A Syrian-Lebanese institution at the head of a Syrian institution. The horizon of the relationship here is a symbolic one. An equally symbolic and material positioning. This will lead to a rhythmic elision and an emotional charge.
Syrian dramatists were not affected by the Lebanese experience. No uterine influences apart from the technical level. For this level is not considered much at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. «An academy with recognized methods of training actors and directors, but it does not provide theater practitioners with the technical magic. Sound, lighting and cinematography. The Syrian creative dramatists have gained it from their Lebanese presence.» Qaddour confirmed that the Syrian shows in Lebanon remain on the throne of Syrian achievements. Each Syrian play is a Cinderella play, the day will soon come when she marries the prince or remains a barren, old maid. Nothing to do with mixing, in merging «one» into the «other.» No Lebanese sensitivities in Syrian plays. On the contrary. The Lebanese plays the role of catalyst in processes of timing the vision, not improving it, except on the technical level. An amputated level in Syria.
There are institutions and bodies that fund the shows that have a direct link to the war in Syria. «Etijahat» (Directions), Afaq, Culture Resource. There is no emotionality in Qaddour’s words. There is a statement of fact. Babel has only hosted neutral shows. «Above Zero» by Osama Halal. An interpretation of six photos that became widely known during the war. Child marriage. Field executions. A mix of drama and contemporary dance. «Could You Please Look into the Camera» directed by Omar Abusaada performed by Ayham Alagha. «For a yes or for a no» directed and performed by Majd Foudda. The horizon of the theater is tied to the economic issue. For Babel Theater is a theater on the verge of closure. The theater audience in Lebanon is an opening night audience. Babel Theater hosted Syrian shows as well as Lebanese shows. Not to reopen old wounds. But motivated by mutual help. The theater opened its doors to many Lebanese shows. «Mama» by Mark Khreich. «Venus» by Jacques Maroun. And others. The theater system of utterance is an economic system. Nothing beyond the economic. Qaddoura did not forget to mention the «Citizenship Organization» founded by Omar al-Jebai. It funds Syrian play directly. Plays that do not merely hint at their opposition of the regime. Underground shows. Hyde Park shows. Or Bordel Clandestine shows. No derogatory implications in the latter description. Shows gathering masses. Or mass gathering. Shows in the margins of Beirut and other cities. Or in villages. Roads, do not destroy nor build. The Syrian play will not grow but in Syria, in Syrian towns. Its presence is a lacking presence in Lebanon or any other country for that matter. But not in Syria. Because theater is urban. Location is symbolic, the moment of getting away from Damascus, Homs, Hama or Aleppo. No influences. No touching partnerships. The wound would not result in ties and links to theater but in Syria. Figures offering assistance are not lacking. Limited assistance. Offering halls for play rehearsals, for free or in return for a nominal fee. Theaters won’t succeed with Syrian theater shows with director signatures. Theater is a garden not a house. The play gets old a day or two after it is shown. Because it takes place in a hole not in a life. Works will not stop gathering. «You Know I Don’t Remember.» Oussama Ghanam presented many plays («Last Tape,» for example). «The Two Immigrants» by Samer Omran. «Small Rooms» by Wael Qaddour. «The Center» by Sari Moustapha. «The Window» by Omar al-Jebai. Majd Foudda turned around Pinter’s «For a yes or...» to a relative partnership between the Lebanese and Syrians. He and Lebanese actors. No pregnancy here. Just a meeting of voices with the aim of lightening the burden of exile. Many shows beg the aid of associations, institutions and international funds. Poor shows. A show in Akkar, another one in Saida or in Beirut. Theater and non-theater shows. As the concert «Thank you, Lebanon» (Babel). The «Sakakeen» (Knives) play was another partnership. A partnership between Lebanese and Syrian amateurs. Shown in Marjayoun. A play presented by sixty Syrian children in a village in the Beqaa valley. The occasion that entailed this stage work was the World Day Against Child Labour. The theater director is indifferent to the identity of the audience. Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi. That is why he does not target a specific audience with his theater work. Beirut is suitable because Cairo is too big, while theater Amman lacks the welcoming conditions. Hashem Adnan, a member of the Lebanese Zoukak Company, observes a form of resistance on the part of the Lebanese to Syrian artists. He says: «Racism. There are Syrians (he does not wish to give names) who consider Beirut to be a trap. No free space in Lebanon. Beirut is cruel. She does not love anyone, does not believe in anyone, while she continually asks of others to express their fascination and love for her. A part of them have emigrated. A part returned to Syria. And there are those who live in the delimitation zone between Beirut and Damascus. Like the director Omar Abusaada. The latter brought his play «Antigone» to Lebanon after it was shown in Damascus and then he returned with his play to Damascus. The play was performed in Al Madina Theater in Beirut presenting the Syrian tragedy as a fathomless abyss. Rafat Alzaqout presented «Toutatouta...,» Wael Qaddoura presented «The Virus» and Fares al-Dhahabi «Wind.» «Al Mawred...» by Adnan Awde. «Paris in the Shade» by Yam Mashahadi.
There are tens of Syrian artists living in Lebanon who have not reduced their presence in theater. Ghassan Massoud, Abdul Munim Amayri, Amal Arafa, Jamal Suliman among others. Not because they are loyal to television works, because they know better, they know that Syrian theater is but a visitor. A branch of theater, not its source. And that television works bind better than theater works. Plays won’t work a miracle. The theater won’t stop living. Although many won’t find in visitor plays their aspirations. They will not find their lives or their living or aquatic forms. The body fully present, without joining a charter. Sitting in the corner. A play cannot fix a shattered mirror. The two sides won’t find agreement. The door won’t open. This is how Lebanese press deal with plays shown in Syria, with a thirst of coming in contact, while media secret words are not handed to plays put on stage in Lebanon. This is an essential indication. Newspapers only hear of vague echoes of these works. Sound bites. Plays do not remain the same over time. The longer they remain outside of Syria, the more their braids unravel. A dysfunctional fan. One of its manifestations is that Syrians have benefited from the relationship of the Lebanese to their media. They learned skills that weaken the talismans of the relationship to the other, to theater, and outside the theater. What remains is plays that cheer. Not plays that call. And the gulf between the two is an abyss.