Told by my mother

كما روتها أمي

  • Dance
  • Show
The 2022 archive

Ali Chahrour

Beyrouth

Ali Chahrour draws the map of a sensitive and unstable zone, a reflection of modern-day Lebanon, where personal and historical tales exalt the immeasurable power of familial love.

Told by my mother, Ali Chahrour, 2022 © Christophe Raynaud de Lage / Festival d'Avignon

Presentation

Lebanese dancer and choreographer Ali Chahrour gives us the second part of a new trilogy about love, finding inspiration for his poignant stories in his own family history and in a torn-up Lebanon. At the centre of it all, a mother, Leila. Next to her, her child, Abbas, whom she's trying to protect from becoming a martyr. A little further, another mother, Fatmeh, who never stopped looking for her missing child, Hassan. And on and on in infinite loops. With their stories, those ordinary heroines give voice to their tenderness and to the intensity of their maternal love. On the stage, they give birth to heartrending family portraits, so striking in the infinite beauty of filial relations. Ali Chahrour, actress Hala Omra, and the musicians of Two or The Dragon accompany those stories with a music inspired as much by Arab culture as by urban sounds. Movements, songs, words, and music give the generations the chance to come together or split apart, like the narrow and unfathomable love between a mother and her child. Absolute.

Distribution

With Abbas Al Mawla, Ali Chahrour, Leïla Chahrour, Ali Hout, Abed Kobeissy, Hala Omran

Choreography and direction Ali Chahrour
Music Two or The Dragon (Ali Hout, Abed Kobeissy)
Stage design Ali Chahrour, Guillaume Tesson
Lights Guillaume Tesson
Sound Woody Naufal 
Assistant direction and choreography, translation in english Chadi Aoun
Translation in french Labiba Chaiban

Production

Production Ali Chahrour
Coproduction Zoukak Theatre Company, Arab Arts Focus / Studio Emad Eddin (Cairo)
With the support of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture with the support of Stiftelsen, Studio Emad Eddin and Ford Foundation, Napoli Teatro Festival, Saadallah et Lubna Khalil Foundation, Kunstfest Weimar, Zurich Theater Spektakel, Mahmoud Darwish Chair/Bozar
With the help of the AFAC Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Lebanon), the Institut français du Liban, de Beit el Laffe, Barzakh, KED, Mezyan, T-Marbouta, Tawlet, Eid Press.
In partnership with France Médias Monde

Practical infos

Pictures

Audiovisual

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And…

Press conference - 20 July

  • Press conference
  • Ali Chahrour
  • Groupe Merci
  • Anaïs Muller
  • Bertrand Poncet
  • Robert Sandoz

The 2022 archive