Two of Lebanon’s leading actresses retrace their professional journeys in a play that explores theater as a space for living a true freedom
Lebanese actresses Hanane Hajj Ali and Randa Asmar retrace their theatrical journeys from the moment they decided to work in theater in the early 1980s. Their testimonies reconstruct the memory of Beirut at a time when the city was fragmented between East and west. Through their personal and professional memories, they redraw a map of theaters and venues that no longer exist. Throughout the play, they discover that it is almost an impossible act. The play questions the theatrical activity during a decade of war and the relationship of these artists to their work today.
“Through this work, I would like to readdress a period in the history of the theater by revisiting Beirut during the war from the point of view of the theater itself, and by highlighting the relationship of two generations of theater practitioners: my generation and that of the actresses who are part of this work. It is from here that my research began, a project which I undertake as a questioning of the history of theater in Lebanon and a tribute to the memory of these theater actresses.”
- Chrystèle Khodr
The text is based on the testimonies of Hanane Hajj Ali and Randa Asmar.
The show is suitable for ages 16+ and contains foul language and graphic descriptions of war. Performed in Arabic with English subtitles.
Biographies
Chrystèle Khodr
Chrystèle Khodr is a theater performer, playwright, and director based in Beirut. She studied theater at the Institute of Fine Arts, a Lebanese university, and was trained in physical theater at l’École Internationale de Théâtre LASSAAD Brussels – Jacques Lecoq pedagogy. Her work springs from the emergency to reconstitute the collective memory from personal stories. In her most recent projects, Chrystèle is increasingly concerned with the movement of history and its impact on time and narrativity as a basic formal dimension of theater. Between 2009 and 2012, she created small format plays and solos: Bayt Byout, 2007 or How I Smashed My Bubble Envelopes, and Beirut Sepia, all of which were shown in several festivals and venues in Lebanon, Egypt, France, and Belgium. Her acclaimed theater production Augures premiered in May 2021 in Théâtre Tournesol in Beirut and has toured across Europe in venues and festivals such as Festival Sens’Interdits, Biennale des Arts de la Scène de la Méditerranée, NTGent, and MC93.
In addition to being an independent theatermaker, she has collaborated and performed with several artists from multiple disciplines. In the framework of her artistic collaboration with Zoukak Theater Company, she has performed in the company’s devised performances: He Who Saw Everything, Death Comes Through the Eyes, and The Battle Scene. In 2017, she wrote and co-directed Temporary Stay alongside Waël Ali. She created the installation I once entered a garden with visual artist and set designer Bissane Al-Charif.
As part of her research cycle around the economic speculation and its impact on theatrical narratives, Chrystèle created the listening piece Rise and Fall of Orient Swiss – Bedtime stories commissioned by Zürcher Theater Spektakel and the interactive installation Who Killed Youssef Beidas? which premiered in June 2022 in Beirut Art Center. Both works were shown in Théâtre Vidy Lausanne. Chrystèle was awarded the Ibsen Scope in 2019 and has written and directed Ordalie – inspired by Ibsen’s The Pretenders – which premiered in October 2023 in Théâtre des Célestins in the framework of Festival Sens’Interdits in Lyon. The play is currently on tour. She worked on her new solo piece Record alongside her long-term theater partner Nadim Deaibes.
Randa Asmar
Randa Asmar has been acting since 1982 on stage and on the screen in both TV and theater. Some of her best work includes L'Homme de La Mancha, written by Dale Wassermann and directed by Raymond Gébara, and The Kite, directed by Randa Chahal Sabbagh [film], and her solo performance Viva La Diva (2010), written by Hoda Barakat and directed by Nabil El Azan whom she has worked with previously on three other plays. She is also the director of the Beirut Spring Festival and a chair teacher at the Lebanese University, Fine Arts Institute. As Paul Chaoul puts it, Randa Asmar is: "one of the greatest discoveries of Lebanese theater since the 1980s until our present times"
Hanane Hajj Ali
Artist, teacher, consultant, researcher, and cultural activist, Hanane Hajj Ali is a leading figure in Lebanon's cultural and artistic scene. Her career began in 1978 with the Théâtre Al Hakawati. Over the course of her forty-year professional career, she has worked as an actress in numerous theater and film productions under the direction of directors from Lebanon, Egypt, France, the United States, Tunisia, and Syria. In 2018, her latest creation, Jogging, received the "Vertebra Award for Best Actor" at the Fringe / Edinburgh International Festival, and has been touring since 2017 in Lebanon at several regional and international festivals, and at prestigious universities in Arab countries and abroad. In 2020, Hanane Hajj Ali received the Gilder/Coigney International Prize for Women in Theater.
In addition to her artistic activity, Hanane Hajj Ali teaches at the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at Saint Joseph University and the Lebanese University. In addition to her academic activities, Hanane Hajj Ali is a cultural, social, and political activist. She works ardently for the reform of censorship laws in Lebanon and the defense of freedom of expression, public spaces democratization, and decentralization of culture. In 1999, she helped found the Shams Association. Hanane Hajj Ali is also a founder and board member of major cultural institutions and artistic organizations such as Culture Resource (Al Mawred Athaqafy), Action for Hope, and Ettijahat Independent Culture.
