Major Theatre Production: “This is Not an Egyptian Movie”

Gulbenkian Theatre, Beirut campus

 “هيدا مش فيلم مصري”  (This is Not an Egyptian Movie)

A collective creation
Adapted and directed by Lina Abyad

Place: Gulbenkian Theatre, Beirut campus
Date: April 28, 29, 30 and May 1, 2, 3, 4, 2014
Time:  8:30 p.m.

The interrupted whistling of the pressure cooker of Manal Al Assi was deafening to me every single day that followed her tragic and senseless death.
I absolutely had to provide a testimonial.
To all those I’m addressing this project to; those who confided in me, in a whisper, a revisited story: the ordeal of a neighbor, or of an old aunt, their own story of a battered woman or a childhood tale behind closed doors, listening in on the father’s insults and the mother’s screams.
On stage, it won’t be make-believe. It is the words of these women that would break the circle of silence in which these violent men, the institution of marriage, the fear of their name being dragged in the mud, the obsolete traditions, the backward civil code, the patriarchal system, confine the voices of these women.
In about an hour, the unbearable and the painful would make room for a discussion with the audience in the presence of professionals – social workers, lawyers or just conscience shakers. 
During rehearsals, another woman had fallen victim to her husband’s blows.
Throughout our work, there were tears, anger, bafflement at this inflicted violence and this learned helplessness, but we also know there is hope. It lives in the words of these women, their newborn awareness of the respect we owe them, and the new laws that will protect them.

Artistic Team

Director: Lina Abyad
Production Manager: Hala Masri
Set Designer: Hana Fakhoury
Costumes Designer: Claire Meshref
Makeup Designer: Lama Saab
Poster, Program & Tickets Designer: Dounia Alexandra Nassar

Tickets at L.L. 10,000 - L.L. 15,000 available at Gulbenkian Ticket Booth
Tel: 01-78 64 64 / 03-79 13 14 ext.1172