Documentary Theatre

Production of the Syrian People Today’s Stories

In collaboration with “Culture in the Tower” institution (Kultur im Turm- Oberhausen), Ettijahat- Independent Culture started the project (Now T...here). The project aims to produce a theatrical performance with a documentary dimension. True stories, told today by Syrian people, shape the raw material of the performance. The performance has a wide title: “Stay or Leave”.

The work on the project will be on two levels: documentary and creative.

The first level is the level of investigation and documentation. This production depends on field and non-field research. The research covers the Syrian people’s stories inside and outside Syria. It involves those people who were affected by the events in Syria. The research covers a range of cases, starting with those who left the country, to those who are still hesitant, and ending with those who cling to their properties and homes, reflecting their standpoints on what is happening. These cases are the starting points of the research. The research should delve deep inside the stories, and exemplify the human aspects within. The process begins with meeting those people, listening to them, and searching for stories that are related to their cases. In addition there will be another research process that covers creative production, essays, or research related to the subject.

The creative level is represented in the process of forming these stories in an artistic manner. This will happen through a workshop that contains a group of young playwrights. Then we will work on adapting these stories into a theatrical text, which contains all elements and materials that were collected during the research, in order to perform it.

(Tandam/ Shaml) initiative contextualises the project: this initiative supports the cultural ‘managers’ exchange between Europe and the Arab region. It gives the opportunity for institutions to produce joint cultural and creative productions. The initiative is supported by European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), MitOst (Berlin), Al Mawred Al Thaqafy (Cairo), Anadolu Kültür (Istanbul), Robert Bosch Stiftung (Stuttgart), DOEN Foundation (Amsterdam), and Mimeta (Norway). This started with the Egyptian Revolution of 25 January 2011, which led to the overthrow of Husni Mubarak. During his reign of more than 30 years cultural policy in the country did not receive enough attention and development, on the contrary, culture was abused to serve the system’s political interests and propaganda, in order to help to legitimize the regime further.