Award-winning Tunisian actor and director Meher Awachri performs a night in the life of Khmais, a Tunisian construction worker in the midst of an existential crisis.
Estranged from his family, exploited at work, and struggling with his faith, Khmais is based on the myth of Sisyphus as interpreted by Camus. A monologue (in Arabic with English subtitles) with contemporary dance and physical theatre, D-Sisyphe confronts topics of religion, revolution and individual will.
Having won first prize at the Thespis International Monodrama Festival, Germany, Meher Awachri has toured D-Sisyphe to critical acclaim all over Europe and North America. This is its UK premiere.
Shubbak by Arts Canteen.
July 19, 2015
D-SISYPHE
(c)Dancing on the edge
A physical theatre version of Hamlet. In an arts complex in one of the rough neighbourhoods of the Tunisian capital, four actors are rehearsing Hamlet. But why? What connection do they have with the issues raised by the play and with Hamlet himself? What pushes them to perform? Is there a need for their theatre?
The Cryer
22 – 25 November 2015
KONN
(c)Karolin Kent
HAMLET
(c)Meher Awachri
PLASTIC
(c)estelle Quillet
In Plastic, Dancing on the Edge’s opening show and one of the four world premieres, Awachri offered a funny look at the stereotypes Westerners hold about the Arabs, and vice versa. ‘During one of my international projects,’ he said during an exchange meeting about the Arab theater world, ‘I challenged my group of performers of different nationalities to talk about the cultural differences between us. We then gave them shape in the form of comedy. After that episode, we had left them behind. We could concentrate on our commonalities, on our mutual bonds.’
Escaping the Exotic: Finding New Common Ground with the Middle East
DEC 11, 2015by JOOST RAMAERin FESTIVALS