In an old family home in Beirut, an audio cassette is found in amongst a heap of abandoned objects. A cassette from 1976, a time when Lebanon was in the throes of civil war. The owners have left, fleeing the violence. On the recordings we hear the voices of migrants who have just arrived in Europe. Based on this ‘found object’, Waël Ali and Chrystèle Khodr examine the stories and traces of survivors and explore a migration history that runs from the Ottoman Empire at the start of the 20th century to the Europe of the 2000s. Against the backdrop of the current war in Syria, they tell a story of exile as a shared history. The story of children who see their native cities collapse and slowly disappear behind them.
In Arabic and French - surtitled in Dutch and French
concept & text: Chrystèle Khodr et Waël Ali direction: Waël Ali performed by: Hassan Al Balkhi, Waël Ali, Chrystèle Khodr, Khaled Yassine scenography: Bissane Al Charif music: Khaled Yassine lighting: Hasan Al Balkhi video: Toni Geitani production: Festival Sens Interdits coproduction: Zoukak Theater Company & Cultural Association (Liban), Institut Français de Beyrouth (Liban), Les Subsistances, laboratoire international de création artistique (Lyon), Festival Les Rencontres à l’échelle, Les Bancs Publics (Marseille) with the support of: Les Subsistances, laboratoire international de création artistique, la DRAC Auvergne- Rhône-Alpes, de Mophradat, de l’AFAC, Ettijahat et le Goethe-Institut du Liban et de l’Institut Français à Beyrouth, l’Office National de Diffusion Artistique, la SPEDIDAM, le Tandem Scène Nationale (Douai) residence: Théâtre des Asphodèles.