IN MY HEART’S EYE: THE LOVE PROJECT
A Performance by Zoukak Theatre Company
14, 15, 16 and 20, 21, 22 February, 8:30pm at Zoukak Studio
Tickets: 25,000 LL
Reduced price: 10,000 LL (for audience younger than 27 years old)
Available through Ihjoz and at the door
Holders of the reduced price tickets should show their ID at the door
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Duration: 90 minutes
Language of the play: Arabic
English surtitles available on the 16th, 21st and 22nd of February
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“[Love] is an existential project: to construct a world from a decentered point of view, other than that of my mere impulse to survive or re-affirm my own identity.”
Alain Badiou – In Praise Of Love
Love, like theatre, takes place in the “here” and “now” and drives individuals to transform the irrevocability of their past and the projections of their future into infinite possibilities in the present. Society posits the certainty of death at the core of any truth, as a fatality looming in the horizon and defining human action; framing “the end of the story”. But what if we were to study “the middle of the story”… the apex of the adventure of life, through instances of falling in love? How does this impact our reading of the world we live in, how many ends and beginnings can we envision other than birth and death?
The Love Project studies a succession of ephemeral moments that have defined people’s various journeys. Our research is based on in-depth interviews with people from different walks of life; who shared their real love stories, intimate encounters and reflections on love as a concept and practice. Some of them have been through difficult circumstances, others encountered love in unexpected places, and all of them assessed how love affected their paths and their views of the world.
The performance involves the audience in a series of tableaux that encapsulate various love encounters; playing with the mechanisms of attraction, infatuation, daydreaming, and loss, as a process of endless re-enactments and a way to see the world through the Other.
Credits
Conceived by: Zoukak Theatre Company
Directed by: Maya Zbib
Devised by: Lamia Abi Azar, Omar Abi Azar, Nadim Deaibes, Louloua Ghandour, Mohamad Hamdan, Nathalie Harb, Junaid Sarieddine, Nasri Sayegh and Maya Zbib
Performers: Lamia Abi Azar, Louloua Ghandour, Junaid Sarieddine, Nasri Sayegh and Maya Zbib
Scenographer: Nathalie Harb
Light designer and technical director: Nadim Deaibes
Technical Team: Bahaa Baddour, Nourhan Fakhoury, Salim Abou Ayash, Jean Kasswani, Fadi Aajlan
Music selected and played by Ziad Nawfal — all tracks taken from the Ruptured Records catalog 2012-2019
Sound Engineer: Georges Abou Zeid
Assistant director: Line Itani
Stage managers: Line Itani, Sari Shreiteh and Marianne Kortbani
Graphic designer: Maya Chami
Communication officer: Marianne Kortbani
Translation of text to English: Rayya Badran and Ziad Nawfal
Production manager: Mohamad Hamdan and Nancy Nasreddine
Co-funded by: Drosos Foundation and the European Union
Media Partner: L'Orient Le Jour
This production was partly developed during a residency at La Mama Umbria, Spoleto, as part of Zoukak receiving the Ellen Stewart International Award. It premiered in July 2019 at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds.
Special thanks to all the participants in the “Love Interviews”.
