On this sunny Thursday in November, the air in the spacious rehearsal room in Beirut’s Hamra district resonates with the traditional Arabic warbling of joy. Two birthdays are being celebrated today, and women are laughing and joking, infants are running and ramping about. The atmosphere, halfway between a family tea party and a kindergarten celebration, does not quite match with what one would expect from a theatre rehearsal.
But here, neither the actresses nor the play itself come close to any ordinary conception of theatre. The same passion that is perceptible during the break celebration equals the dedication that the women put into their work on the project:
“In the rehearsals, there is a lot of positive energy. We are encouraged to put effort into it. I like it a lot, because the more we discuss the play, the more we read, the more we learn – so it is also an enjoyable learning process.” (W.*, actress)
Given the relaxed surroundings and the untamed joy animating the scene, it is hardly imaginable that these women have been exposed to hardship and suffering which go beyond what is bearable for the human soul.
Motivate, provoke, encourage
Bringing out these stories is one of the main objectives that playwright Mohammad Al Attar wishes to attain with his latest project Antigone of Syria. By choosing Sophocles’ masterpiece as the theatrical framework, the present reality of the life of refugee women in Lebanon is refracted through the timeless topicality of ancient Greek tragedy.
Al Attar aims at provoking, motivating, and perhaps most of all encouraging women to speak out on the atrocities of the Syrian civil conflict, of civil war from their own point of view. Within the theatrical reference, the actresses are given the possibility of sharing their individual destinies and perceptions – as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives – of the Syrian conflict. “It is like a puzzle”, says Al Attar, “when you are completing the whole picture with small pieces. Some pieces are larger – which means that we are depending more heavily on the story of the person – and other pieces are smaller – which means that here, we are depending on a situation, or a moment that happened, or a dream, or even a song – but all these pieces are equally important.”
As Mohammad Al Attar talks about the project in a nearby café after the rehearsal, one realizes that this task is just as delicate as it is ambitious. You can feel the playwright’s agitation, his passion – and compassion for the actresses – when he speaks about this: “Sometimes it’s not easy to share with the group, to unfold. The majority of the stories which are unfolded in this work are painful stories, are stories of oppression, of loss, of suffering. And they were all stuck here.” Finishing, he points to his heart, almost accidentally knocking over his teapot.
However, the project is not merely conceived as an artistic reappraisal of the traumatizing experiences that the women were – and are still – exposed to. Inspired by Antigone’s fearless nonconformism, as well as her refusal to abide by the political and societal conventions of her time, the women are encouraged to also speak out on their opinions, visions and dreams.
Emancipation through art
But the play is much more than a ‘safe haven’ for the actresses to share their experiences related to the Syrian conflict. Antigone of Syria demonstrates that acting is also a means of challenging authority and of individual empowerment.
This is not least of all due to the professionalism that Al Attar and his team expect from the participants – a professionalism which becomes immediately palpable once the break is over and the rehearsal continues. Director Omar Abusaada is a highly demanding instructor: he makes the women repeat the same lines over and over again, meticulously optimizing tonality, mimics, and the expressiveness of the gestures.
Yet, this severity is an integral part of the spirit of equality which prevails among the group. For Mohammad Al Attar, working with this group of refugee women at this stage is in no way different from working with professionals – which is why he puts emphasis on the fact that the actresses receive a financial reward for their work. This aspect is vital since it is at the core of an emancipation process which transgresses the frontiers between the private and the political, between artistic interpretation and social reality: “They are our partners in challenging the political oppression. But at the same time, they are fighting on different fronts that we sometimes ignore or that we sometimes not make ourselves aware of, unfortunately. They are also fighting the oppression inside their communities. They are also fighting social oppression in a society dominated by men.”
Al Attar is neither a social worker, nor is he a psychiatrist. He is a dramaturge who firmly believes in the emancipatory and transformative power of art – be it on the personal, the societal or the political level. And he firmly believes in the courage and strength of his actresses. It may well be that they are much more fragile and less rebellious than Antigone – but they have nonetheless found in art a way of revolt against the multiple forms of oppression to which they are subject.
When the curtain closes – the real challenge begins
“You will remember what things I suffer, and at what men’s hands (…)” (Antigone)
This revolt is just as multifaceted and complex as the kaleidoscope of stories that the project helps to unfold. The real challenge, however, only begins once the curtain closes. Whereas Antigone, in her last words, is convinced that her story will be remembered, the actresses in Mohammad Al Attar’s play need to find ways in which they can continue the journey they have embarked on. The playwright knows very well that the scope of his personal contribution is limited to stage and scene. He nevertheless hopes that for at least some of the participants, the theatre project is only the first of many steps towards emancipation – and the actresses’ resoluteness nourishes these hopes.
“I think it would be very good if such experiences could be repeated. Thanks to this project, we were encouraged to express our feelings, to share them. It gives us a safe space to deal with the subconscious problems or traumas. Syrian women are now refugees in many countries, not only in Lebanon – so I think it is important not only to do this here, but also in other countries.” (R., actress)
Here, the women once again transgress the frontiers between the private and the political by challenging Lebanese society to reconsider its image of refugees in general and Syrian refugees in particular. For many women, this was the biggest motivation to participate in the project, says Mohammad Al Attar: to send a message and to show that they are not the people that a large part of society considers them to be.
So when the curtain closes, it will only do so on stage. For the actresses, however, even the premiere of Antigone of Syria is only the general rehearsal for the much greater challenge: to perform on the stage of their own lives.
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Information:
Antigone of Syria will be performed on the 10th, 11th and 12thof December, 8PM at Al Madina Theatre in Hamra, Beirut. All information can be found online by visiting http://www.apertaproductions.org
*Names have been anonymized upon the request of the actresses.