Moussem Repertoire (2019-2020)

Within the performing arts, Moussem focuses on producing performances and supporting choreographers, directors and playwrights who bring fresh perspectives to the performing arts scene. In our increasingly diverse world, it is more essential than ever to bring global perspectives and new stories to the stage. In recent seasons, Moussem has collaborated with various partners to develop youth theatre productions, with the aim of questioning, broadening, influencing and galvanising the prevailing artistic field.
Through the specific project Moussem Repertoire, we introduce theatre texts from the ‘Arab world’ by translating these texts and publishing them in Dutch. We seek out works by playwrights who have undeniably played a significant role in the development of contemporary theatre in the region. These are authors such as Saad Allah Wannous, Tayeb Saddiki and Issam Mafouz, who in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s shaped a form of theatre that looked to its own heritage and various local traditions, whilst bringing together more Western theatre methods. In addition to the undisputed ‘great’ playwrights, the project also focuses on texts by young contemporary writers and directors who reflect the current diversity of theatre.
In recent years, five theatre texts have been published as part of the project. In 2015, this was the text Rituals, Signs and Changes by Saadallah Wannous. In 2017, the texts The Dictator by Issam Mafouz and Shut Up and Dig by Hala Moughanie were published, and this year the texts Goats by Liwaa Yazji’ and I Don’t Remember Anymore by Waël Ali were added. In the coming year, work will begin on the translation and publication of ‘Abū Hayyān al-Tawhīdi’, an important text by the Moroccan playwright and director Tayeb Saddiki.

The interplay between local artistic traditions and the theatrical form introduced by European colonialism is today one of the defining features of theatre in the region. The sheer variety of languages alone lends the theatre in the hyper-diverse ‘Arab world’ an impressive variety and complexity. There is a substantial output of contemporary theatre within a dynamic field that has long been regarded as a distinct tradition in its own right, rather than a European form. It is a rich theatrical world which, through the various diasporas, establishes not only relational but also substantive links between North and South. It concerns literary theatre works that offer insight into societies with which we are in daily contact and about which the public is curious.
The Moussem Repertoire project aims to make these new theatre texts accessible step by step and at various levels. We are doing this through recent publications and are working on an online platform where we will make the texts of the productions we have presented in Belgium in recent years available in Dutch. But Moussem Repertoire is not just about presenting new texts; it is also about the curricula of schools and universities, the books in libraries and the theatre texts available there. We are therefore actively seeking collaboration with theatre training programmes so that a young generation of performing artists can become acquainted with a new and different repertoire. We are working on the (international) interconnection of creative networks and archives and aim to make the circulation of this work visible and feasible.

Theatre Festival 2019
Repertoire and References
KASK 13 September 2019 13:30 – 17:00
For the Theatre Festival, Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre is organising an afternoon of reflection and inspiration on the artistic canon, repertoire and frames of reference within the performing arts. A programme that approaches the theme from various angles through discussion, presentations, lectures and readings. The introduction of theatre texts from the ‘Arab world’ takes centre stage.

Featuring, among others: Sarah Eisa, Nisrine Mbarki, Mohamed Ikoubaân, Erwin Jans, Cees Vossen, Joachim Ben Yakoub, Khalid Koujili El Yakoubi, Dounia Mahammed and Lore Baeten.

Curated by Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre.
in collaboration with Het Theaterfestival, Kloppend Hert and KASK

State of the Theatre
Read my World Festival 2019 - Tolhuistuin Amsterdam
12.10.19 - 8pm

A look at contemporary theatre in Morocco. Through two short readings and a discussion, we zoom in on developments over the past decades and the current state of theatre.
Actors Dounia Mahammed and Khalid Koujili El Yakoubi read excerpts from two notable plays spanning a period of thirty years. Based on readings of text excerpts from these plays, writer and director Maha Sano and Yassin Adnan engage in a conversation.
in collaboration with deBuren

Abu Hayyan al Tawhidi - Tayeb Saddiki deBuren 12 March 2020 – 7.30 pm - NL - tickets with Michiel Leezenberg, Nisrine Mbarki, Dounia Mahammed, Mira Bryssinck and Mohamed Ikoubaân

deBuren and Moussem are organising an evening programme based on the play Abu Hayyan al Tawhidi (1984), written by the versatile Moroccan author and director Tayeb Saddiki. The play is an adaptation of a classic 10th-century literary work by the philosopher of the same name.

We have invited Michiel Leezenberg, author of the book ‘Islamic Philosophy, a History’ (awarded the Socrates Challenge Cup for the best Dutch-language philosophy book) to give a lecture delving deeper into the figure of the philosopher Abu Hayyan Al Tawhidi, and we will be in conversation with him and with translator and writer Nisrine Mbarki about the work of Tayeb Saddiki. Actresses Dounia Mahammed and Mira Bryssinck will read scenes from the play.

Moussem is currently working on the Dutch translation of the play, which forms part of both the Moussem Repertoire project and a programme series focusing on critical thinkers. A series in which Moussem aims to highlight the fascinating culture of debate within Islam.

Tayeb Saddiki (1938–2016) was an actor, director, producer, writer and calligrapher, and is known as a versatile artist and a major figure in the Arab theatre and film world. He had a significant influence on the development of contemporary theatre in Morocco. A defining feature of his work was his fusion of acting styles and forms from the Moroccan and Arab traditions with Western methods, creating his own contemporary form of theatre.