Wael Kadour

Theatrical text “The Lady from the Sea”
The project is a documentary and dramatic theatrical text that simulates the historical event in which female political detainees presented Henry Ibsen’s “The Lady from the Sea” in Douma Women’s Prison prison in 1991. It was a bold act of defiance against the prison authorities. The project also explores the transformational effects of this incident by tracking the lives of some of its participants, from the hardships and restrictions on liberties they endured after their release to their lives in exile after the Syrian revolution and civil war compelled them to seek refuge in the Gulf or in Europe.

Written by Wael Kaddour and directed by Abdullah Al-Kafri (Syria), this theater piece takes us into a day into the life of Jalal, an officer who was abandoned by the regime during the years of stable government control but was asked to return to service after an uprising in the country. This awakens in him an old desire to regain the power he once had during a long period that he was attempting to forget after having spent years with his nephew Omar, a promising theater director who is preparing a new play based on “Death and the Maiden” by Argentinian playwright Ariel Dourphman. The latter revolves around an ambiguous encounter between a former prisoner and a former executioner.

Publishing a contemporary play script: The script combines an artistic approach with research on the notions of violence and forgiveness within the context of the Syrian society during the first months of the Syrian revolution. The text is based on the analysis of monitoring results of how the peaceful movement became militarized and on a comparison of the current events with the political incidents that took place in Syria in the 1980s. The script attempts to shed light on the ways in which the daily death of Syrians is translated into expression, and takes the reader back to the past – technically and dramatically – in order to question the present and reflect upon it.

A play revolves around 4 characters of pre-revolutionary Syria .Through their individual quest for salvation, the four characters drowned completely in fear and pain, and love.

Received a grant to travel from Syria with group to rehearse and perform their new theatre production Small Rooms in Jordan.