- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: One-woman show focusing on Syrian crisis opens in London
- Date: 15th April 2014
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 10, 2014) (REUTERS) ACTRESS CORINNE JABER ON STAGE AT YOUNG VIC THEATRE DURING REHEARSAL OF 'OH MY SWEET LAND' AT YOUNG VIC THEATRE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CORINNE JABER, ACTRESS, SAYING: "I wanted to do something about Syria because I am half Syrian but that's not the whole reason, I felt that something needed to be done. To talk abo
- Embargoed: 30th April 2014 13:00
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- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAHD2X6V32FDT4AIF3G3VT7XDN
- Story Text: A one-woman play about the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Syria has opened in London.
'Oh My Sweet Land' was the idea of German-Syrian actress Corinne Jaber. It attempts to explore the crisis in Syria through her character relaying the stories of some of its two million refugees as she cooks.
"I wanted to do something about Syria because I am half Syrian but that's not the whole reason, I felt that something needed to be done. To talk about this in a different way - "A" in a theatrical way and "B" in a way that takes us away from just being spectators to horror stories on YouTube and in the newspapers so I wanted to research what happens to people and how do people, people like us, deal with this. How do they survive and what is left of life as such," said Jaber.
The play is the story of a woman, who like Jaber, is half-Syrian. She falls in love with a male Syrian activist and reconnects with the country, spending her time obsessively cooking one Syrian dish in her apartment - kubah, a meat-filled dumpling - while telling individual refugees' stories.
"It's got this counterpoint, which was really what we were looking for between the horror, the complete utter horror and atrocity and, I mean, it's so horrible that you cannot even put it into words any more, of what is happening in Syria, and, on the other side, the sensuality of cooking," Jaber explained.
The actress has previously performed in London with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and has won France's prestigious national Moliere Prize for her achievements in live French theatre.
Having originally conceived a large-scale project involving a full cast of actors and dancers, Jaber settled upon the idea of a one-woman show after being introduced to acclaimed Palestinian writer-director Amir Nizar Zuabi, founder of Haifa-based theatre company ShiberHur.
Enthused by their initial meeting, Nizar - who lives in Israel - agreed to write and direct the play which has a four-week run at London's prestigious Young Vic theatre. The pair visited Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, interviewing people there and collecting their stories before Nizar wrote the script.
A director of international repute, Nizar agreed with Jaber that to connect with the audience they must find a way to talk about Syria, while not dwelling on the horror of the nation's Civil War.
The director says he was attracted to the idea partly by the similarities between the people of Syria and those of the Palestinian territories.
Nizar's play 'I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother' told the stories of Palestinian refugees after they were uprooted upon the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948. Nizar sees similarities in the current situation in Syria.
"Palestine, Syria, Lebanon are one unit inside the Arab world. We are El Sham (The Levant). We are called the greater, the greater Syria. So, the habits, the customs, the...I have family in Syria, you know, it's one big geographical unit that was cut in the 1920s in Sykes-Picot," Nizar said, referring to the secret agreement between the United Kingdom and France to divide the Ottoman Empire.
"It's one unit. In a lot of manners we are very similar. The politics is very different. What they're going through right now is a hundred times worse than anything we went through, except 1948," he said.
The fragmented nature of the Syrian conflict, with its disparate opposition groups, fluid allegiances, and its barbarity has horrified international observers. Nizar admits he is similarly confused by the situation, but says he felt compelled to write a play on the subject.
"I am not even sure what my stand about it, politically, is but I know we had to say something, which is what this piece is about in a way. I don't know. I tried to capture as many voices as I could of a very confused situation which I'm not part of. I understand it. I understand the language. I am very close but unless you're in the storm you can only depict it from outside," he said.
'Oh My Sweet Land' is at London's Young Vic until May 3. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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