period, theatre was starting to go down. During the
war, theatre stayed active as a tool of resistance and
as a sign of life. Theatres and cinemas stayed open
during the war and closed after the war finished. It
was a time of depression and losing faith of theatre
and its political importance. We stared to do hearts
in that ambience. Theatre was losing its importance
as a political practice and the text was not something
“cool” in theatre in that time ‘Our Company decided
not to follow the postmodern wave’. And decided to
work on text as a main body in theatre again for example we were so surprised by the reception and
analysis of our works. We understood the importance
of the rituality and the spirit of the work as much as
its intellectual level. It was fascinating for us all the
discussions and reflections with the audience there.
An audience who receive mad perceive theatre in
their mind, body, souls, and more and more.
q) So theatre was like a tool to resist war? We and many other artists in Lebanon are so much
exposed to the European audience and
Europe. In Europe there is a general feeling that
intellectualism is much important than any other
level in the artistic experience, It is different from a
European country and another. But it is something that
you can find in common and as there is a general wing
in art that follows the evolution of art history makes
conceptualism the pick and highest achievement in
art practice. So audience looks for the concept more
than the experience. Again, it is not something to
generalize.
For us now, theatre still has such importance on the
human, thus, political level because it is the art that
is still opening the possibility for a mass gathering
(audience) in a live event (play or performance)
that carries a creative life experience. So it is all
about putting the body As an audience as an artist
And through this we are creating what most of the
systems in the world are fighting and forbidding
Gatherings around meanings Publicly. Public spaces
Yes. Many groups were practicing theatre as a
resistance tool but also as a personal resistance on an
individual level
q) So it will be entirely different experience when
you travel around globe?
For us, we wanted to construct new narratives that
are related of the failure of our historical narratives.
War cut and made big ruptures on the history of the
country. So we trained to relate and build narratives
and languages that are related to our context when
we travel. And present our work outside of Lebanon.
It is very important for us as its importance for the
audience in these other countries. We understand new
and different angles and levels in the ideas and the
style we are proposing, which we didn’t think about
before.So it opens new and different meaning in our
works and in our theatre practice in general, In India
q) Can u share any experience in other nation
rather than India and Lebanon especially where
the demography and political situation varies?
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