Told by My Mother
Ali Chahrour
75 min | Parental rating 12+
7/3, Thursday, at 9pm
8/3, Friday, at 9pm
9/3, Saturday, at 9pm
Sesc Vila Mariana | Teatro Antunes Filho
Pelotas, 141, Vila Mariana
The Friday (8th) session has audio description.
SYNOPSIS
In the show, Lebanese choreographer and dancer Ali Chahrour is anchored genuine and personal dramas, intimate and even personal dramas – such as that of his own aunt, who withers with sadness as she searches for her missing son. Accompanied by relatives and artists from the scene, he brings stories of iconic mothers and their families, some scattered or disappeared, narrated for the memory to survive and celebrate what is left. The performance embodies family hardships and tragedies experienced by the mothers: bodies, voices, and hidden small battles within dwellings of Beirut and its suburbs. The musical approach of the show brings reference the songs of those very same families in moments of grief and joy.
HISTORY
Choreographer and dancer, Ali Chahrour was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He is known for inventing his own gestures, free of Western codes and models, which function as a reflection of the culture and the political, social and religious contexts in which he grew up. Told by My Mother (2021) is the second part of a trilogy dedicated to love. The first show in the series, Night, was released in 2019, and the last, The Love Behind My Eyes, hit the stage in 2022. Previously, he developed the trilogy Death – in which he called for funeral liturgies mixing tradition and modernity – with the performances Fatmeh (2014), Leila’s Death (2015) and May He Rise and Smell the Fragrance (2017). Currently, Chahrour is preparing a new sequence of three presentations around the theme of fear.
CRITIC
In a delicate tangle of moving songs and striking scenes, Ali Chahrour organises a surprising family reunion in which the living and the dead come together and, lurking in their shadows, all the pains of a devastated country.
Laurence Péan e Marie-Valentine Chaudon, La Croix
A sensitive, personal play offering itself as both a cry and a vibrant song of love and desolation.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Direction and choreography: Ali Chahrour
Performance: Hala Omran, Laila Chahrour, Abbas Al Mawla, Ali Hout, Abed Kobeissy and Ali Chahrour
Music: Two or The Dragon (Ali Hout and Abed Kobeissy)
Direction and choreography assistance: Chadi Aoun
Production: Ali Chahrour
Production management: Chadi Aoun and Christel Salem
Scenography: Guillaume Tesson and Ali Chahrour
Light design and technical direction: Guillaume Tesson
Sound engineering: Benoit Rave
Light manager: Pol Seif
Copywriting: Isabelle Aoun
Co-production: Zoukak Theater, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), The Arab Arts Focus with the support of Stiftelsen, Studio Emad Eddin and Ford Foundation, Campania Teatro Festival, Saadallah and Lubna Khalil Foundation, Kunstfest Weimar, Zurich Theater Spektakel and Mahmoud Darwish Chair/Bozar
Direction and choreography: Ali Chahrour
Performance: Hala Omran, Laila Chahrour, Abbas Al Mawla, Ali Hout, Abed Kobeissy and Ali Chahrour
Music: Two or The Dragon (Ali Hout and Abed Kobeissy)
Direction and choreography assistance: Chadi Aoun
Production: Ali Chahrour
Production management: Chadi Aoun and Christel Salem
Scenography: Guillaume Tesson and Ali Chahrour
Light design and technical direction: Guillaume Tesson
Sound engineering: Benoit Rave
Light manager: Pol Seif
Copywriting: Isabelle Aoun
Co-production: Zoukak Theater, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), The Arab Arts Focus with the support of Stiftelsen, Studio Emad Eddin and Ford Foundation, Campania Teatro Festival, Saadallah and Lubna Khalil Foundation, Kunstfest Weimar, Zurich Theater Spektakel and Mahmoud Darwish Chair/Bozar
Support: French Institute of Beirut, Barzakh, Beit el Laffe, KED, Mezyan, T-Marbouta, Tawlet and Eid Press
