The British Council world-wide is promoting the concept of the diversity and multiculturalism in its Arts programme
LEADING THEATRE PROFESSIONALS FROM THE ARAB WORLD TAKE PART IN THE EDINBURGH SHOWCASE2009
Amateurs, student groups, established and emerging theatre artists gathered in Edinburgh last August to present and see different types of theatre performances attracted by the Fringe Festival and Edinburgh International Festival.
Edinburgh’s streets, shops, car parks, private flats and traditional theatres embraced the festival’s 2,098 shows (34,265 performances) offering visitors a lifetime’s experience of theatre in this welcoming and inspiring city.
In its efforts to create opportunities for creative collaboration between theatre professionals from the Arab world and the UK, the British Council invited a delegation of 14 theatre professionals from the Near East and North Africa to attend Edinburgh Showcase, a week long selection of British performances, organised between 24 and 29 August alongside the Fringe and International festivals.
Through the Showcase’s 35 performances and programme of events, delegates saw a diverse range of theatre productions, met with their peer from different parts of the world and participated in networking events.
Oussama Ghanam, Professor / Dramaturgy / Curator at the High Institute of Music and Theatre in Syria, said ‘The Showcase presents a platform on which we can build collaboration between the UK Theatre and the Arab Theatre… this will lead to a productive dialogue with others and a way to introduce them to the Arab Theatre.’
One of the important highlights was the Seminar on Arab Theatre shared by the Arab delegates and the UK Theatre Professionals on Thursday 27 August, which provided opportunities for the exchange of knowledge, ideas and experience between professionals, as well as a platform for voices from the Arab World to highlight current trends in contemporary Arabic theatre, with a view to increasing collaborative creative exchange in the performing arts.
Noel Witts, Professor Performing Arts at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK, said ‘This seminar is a good opportunity for us to make contact with Arab theatre… We really must make contact with the other Arab nations’
In addition to the performances and networking session, delegates found in the Showcase a good opportunity for creative collaborative working for young and emerging theatre makers.
Nivine Ibiary, Director of Workshops, Programs and Residencies at Studio Emad Eddin Foundation in Egypt, said ‘It is a great opportunity to give a chance to a young Arabic emerging artist or director to be part in the organization and the preparation of the programme which helps in gaining experience in such an important Showcase’
This participation in the Showcase was organised within the framework of a broader British Council project supporting creative collaboration between theatre professionals in the region and the UK - increasing international exposure, enhancing awareness and enriching mutual dialogue.
For more information about the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe Festival, please go to: www.eif.co.uk and www.edfringe.com
PARTICIPANTS FROM TUNISIA
Mr Fadhel Jaîbi
An old traveller of theatre roads, Fadhel Jaibi has worked on the stages of the Maghreb, Near East, Europe, Japan and Korea, Argentina and USA.
A well known figure in contemporary Arab theatre, he is the author of more than twenty plays and four films, and has directed numerous training sessions and workshops in Tunisia and abroad. Recently, Europe has been showing interest in his pedagogical research and his directing methodology.
His recent achievements include the showing of Junun at the Avignon Festival (2002) in France. Jaibi was the first Arab director ever to be invited to the 56 year old festival. The same year he was invited to stage Araberlin, a play which investigates post 9/11, at Berlin’s Festespiele, and in 2006 his work Khamsoun premiered at the Odeon Theatre, the first time a work in Arabic had been produced at the 200 year old theatre.
Mrs Jalila Baccar
Jalila Baccar is a Tunisian actress and playwright. After studying French literature at the Tunisian Ecole Normale Supérieure, she joined Le Théâtre du Sud in the town of Gafsa in 1973. She was co-founder of the first private theatre company, Le Nouveau Théâtre in 1976, and her present company, Familia Productions, in 1994.
She has acted in about twenty plays and had cinema roles in Tunisian and foreign productions.
Baccar uses theatre and the arts to raise political issues. In her work, women are seen as historical and political actors rather than as objects.
Mr Abdelhalim El Messaoudy
Abdelhalim El Messaoudy is an academic specializing in stage aesthetics, stage structure and management, history of theatrical costumes and theatre and spectacle. He is also a theatre critic, journalist, lecturer, correspondent for several Tunisian and Arab newspapers as well as a facilitator in TV programmes.
Among his other commitments, El Messaoudy is a member of the committee in charge of communication and conferences of Carthage Theatre Days, the most important international theatre festival in Tunisia.
The British Council is bringing 14 leading theatre professionals from the Near East and North Africa to take part in the biennial Edinburgh Showcase, which runs alongside the Edinburgh International Festival (14 August - 6 September) - one of the world’s biggest festivals of performing arts.
Leading theatre professionals from the Arab world including Al-Fadhel Al-Jaibi, Ibrahim Noual, Iman Aoun, Ahmad Attar, Hanane Haj Ali and Raed Asfour will be taking part in the Showcase programme, which is a diverse mix of contemporary UK performances, ranging from the experimental to the established. The programme also includes a series of networking events, and a seminar on Arab theatre, which will provide opportunities for the exchange of knowledge, ideas and experience between theatre professionals worldwide, as well as a platform for voices from the Arab World to highlight current trends in contemporary Arabic theatre, with a view to increasing collaborative creative exchange in the performing arts.
Jordan will be represented in the Showcase by Raed Asfour, a theatre studies graduate, from Al-Balad Theatre. Raed Asfour began his career in 1989 as theatre director & scenographer with Al Fawanees theatre group in Jordan where he co-founded and became the executive director of the Amman International Theatre Festival (1994 – 2004). Asfour also co-founded the Arab Theatre Training Center (ATTC) in 1999 and continues to serve as one of its key active board member. Since 2005, Asfour has led the founding process and became the full time director of Al Balad Theatre ( www.al-balad.org), an independent multi-purpose cultural and artistic space in Amman-Jordan.
This participation in the showcase is organised within the framework of a broader British Council project supporting creative collaboration between theatre professionals in the region and the UK - increasing international exposure, enhancing awareness and enriching mutual dialogue.
For more information about the project please contact
Arts Manager
British Council, First Circle, Jabal Amman
PO Box 634, Amman 11118, Jordan
Telephone +962 6 4603420
Fax +962 6 4656413
E-mail info@britishcouncil.org.jo
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