Day: 24 July 2023

He is indeed the most famous storyteller in the world. That’s how Halim Al-Hakawati defines himself. He claims to know all the secrets of life and its stories from a very small book. Legend has it that this book contains every story that ever existed and will exist in the world. Halim shares stories from the book by performing them in reality.

In a typical performance of Halim Al-Hakawati (‘Halim the Storyteller’), he enters the theater, applauds himself, and reads three stories from his very small book, often suggested by the audience. In a recent performance, someone requested a story about the “Benefits of the Chinaberry tree,” prompting Halim to choose a story, narrate it to the audience, and then act it out on stage.

During his performances, Halim engages in a phone conversation without using an actual phone, skillfully portraying a conversation with his girlfriend and seamlessly shifting between roles as he takes on her character. He goes as far as portraying driving a non-existent car, creating a vividly real illusion before the audience’s eyes.

While he succeeds in some endeavors, every time Halim realizes that his small book doesn’t encompass the entirety of the world’s stories, he playfully blames the musician and sound engineer for its limitations.

This enigmatic storyteller is real, he bears a resemblance to many narrators and storytellers who claim to possess the ultimate truth. His shows conclude without reaching the resolution of the story, prompting Halim to once again request the audience to enthusiastically applaud him, more than the musician and sound engineer.

Solo, improvised theatrical performance Raffi Feghali masterfully presents his captivating performance as Halim Al-Hakawati”in an improvisational and solo show. A versatile theater performer, trainer, and peace advocate, showcased “Halim Al-Hakawati” in June 2023 at Laban Studio, the improvisational theatrical institution founded by Feghali himself in 2009.

Improvisational theater is a form of theater that transcends scripted performances and unfolds spontaneously — where a person performs without prior scene preparation or scripted dialogue. While this challenge alone could be daunting, the solitary nature of the performance makes it even more difficult.

However, what we may not know about this type of theater is that it goes beyond individual creativity; it evolves into a way of life, fostering participation, exchanging, and sharing ideas. It is an art form that is often misunderstood, especially when the story’s conclusion remains open-ended.

Improvisation has been a part of human expression since ancient times. In the realm of theater, it falls under the commedia dell’arte, a form of comedic improvisational theater. In the past, directors would provide actors with a basic outline of a short performance, and then the dialogue would be improvised. However, the practice of improvisation is a long process that transformed and evolved, giving rise to various forms of improvisational theater.

Improvisational theater isn’t widely embraced in the Arab region

Inspired by watching a show in Amsterdam and participating in impromptu street performances in Lebanon, without formal improvisational training, Feghali established “Laban,” an improvisational theater institution in 2009, due to the lack of dedicated space for daily improvisational performances. Raffi Feghali describes his reaction after watching the show in Amsterdam in 2009.

I watched a performance featuring three individuals. It was a long and improvised show. I couldn’t even breathe. It was one of the most beautiful performances I had ever witnessed. I remember the shape of the buildings, the white cars, and the house they inhabited. I could imagine everything they were doing as if they had a fully furnished and decorated stage. In that moment, I realized it was impossible to claim that Lebanon is a culturally rich country without the presence of improv theater.

“Laban” launched several improvisational theater performances in Lebanon, leading to the emergence of a few groups in the Arab world, such as in Egypt and the UAE.

Although experimental theatre in the Arab World has been part of the culture for a long time, the presence of improvisational theater remains limited, particularly regarding the establishment of training and educational institutions dedicated to this art form. Several reasons contribute to this situation.

Feghali believes that the absence of improvisational theater in Lebanon and the Arab world is partly due to the general censorship imposed on unscripted performances:

In Lebanon, prior to each performance, I would approach the authorities to discuss the show and seek approval. Their usual response would be to see the written script. I would tell them I did not have a script, and they would reject the show. I would come back after a while and share the script of ‘Hamlet’ with them, and they would accept. On several occasions after obtaining approval, I’ve informed them that the play is improvisational and lacks a script. I also invited them to attend the performance, hoping they would intervene and prompt a reconsideration of censorship laws in Lebanon. However, they of course never attend.

The other reason may be due to the lack of sufficient experience of improvisational theater in the Arab world, which contributes to a misunderstanding of the meaning of this type of theatre. Viewers may attend expecting a specific message from the show, but improvisational theater does not always contain a specific message.

A show with no message One of the captivating aspects of improvisational theater is its simplicity and the freedom it offers to challenge conventional theatrical forms, as it does not impose any specific messages on the audience or the scene. It allows viewers to interpret and engage with the performance as they wish.

According to Feghali, this attribute makes improvisational theater extraordinary and one of the most beautiful art forms. Improvisation urges individuals not to appropriate art, or interpret it, as it grants the audience the autonomy to derive their own favorite impressions. Even if a performance lacks a specific message, it becomes a living experience for the performer, transcending the immediate moment on stage and in front of the audience.

Improvisational theater is unique because it is artistically accessible to everyone. Feghali says:

Anyone can learn improvisation. Anyone can practice any form of art, in my opinion. But improvisational art makes the ability to create accessible to all. Improvisational art can be likened to what YouTube did for filmmaking; while 90% of the videos on YouTube may not be exceptional, 10% of them can be exceptional. Similar to YouTube, improvisational theater caters to individuals who have never had the means to produce large-scale theatrical productions due to financial or production constraints, for example.

Perhaps the beauty of improvisational theater lies in its ability to reinterpret art in its simplicity, just as it began. For instance, Halim Al-Hakawati fearlessly makes mistakes on stage and delves into stories or narratives without providing a conclusive ending. Yet, the audience learns not to expect finality at all times, prompting a re-evaluation of the mind’s adaptability and the profound connection between theater and daily reality.

Nevertheless, presenting this art form within our Arab world remains a challenge, contending with censorship and restrictions that may fear unresolved narratives with no ending, or misconstrue our storytelling choices as having a predetermined direction. Feghali says,

During my early shows around the world, I realized that if you come from the Arab world, or from Lebanon in particular, it is almost impossible to create content without it assuming a political dimension. Every aspect of our lives and daily struggles is inherently political. There were instances where I had no way to escape from that.

Source: Global Voices

A woman in her forties died Monday after a car accident in the Al Lajun area, east of Karak. The director of forensic medicine in the southern region explained that the woman soon died after she arrived at the Karak Governmental Hospital.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Dozens of Jewish extremist settlers on Monday stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque/ al-Haram al-Sharif compound in occupied East Jerusalem. The General Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said in a statement that the settlers carried out today’s raids through al-Magharebah Gate, under the heavy protection of Israeli police, who restricted Muslim worshippers’ access to the holy shrine. “The settlers provocatively toured the Mosque’s yards, and performed Talmudic rituals in the Bab al-Rahma area amid a state of anger inside the compound,” it added. Al-Aqsa Mosque incursions occur on a daily basis, except for Fridays and Saturdays, during both morning and evening hours, in an attempt to impose a temporal and spatial division.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Israeli occupation naval boats today detained four Gaza fishermen, siblings, off the sea of Gaza City and seized their fishing boat, reported WAFA correspondent, as army vehicles infiltrated the southern Gaza Strip borders and destroyed lands. He said Israeli gunboats stopped the siblings’ fishing boat about three nautical miles off the al-Sudaniyya coast, northwest of Gaza City, and seized it, while detaining the four fishermen on board from the Bakr family and taking them to Asdod port in southern Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli military vehicles today infiltrated the borders east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying agricultural land while shooting in the air. WAFA correspondent said seven military vehicles, including bulldozers and tanks, penetrated dozens of meters into agricultural lands, amidst shooting and firing tear gas canisters and smoke bombs in the area.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

The Israeli occupation forces today destroyed a mobile home in the village of Battir, west of Bethlehem, according to Omar al-Qaisi, an activist. He told WAFA that an occupation army force, accompanied by a military bulldozer, stormed the eastern part of the village and destroyed the mobile home owned by a local resident. Israeli settlers, supported by the army, have been setting up tents, leveling lands, and uprooting trees in the same area where the mobile home was destroyed as a prelude to seizing the land.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

The Department of Scholars and Learners of the Executive Office of Ansar Allah condemned the repeated crime of burning the Holy Qur’an in Sweden and Denmark.

The department confirmed in a statement, a copy of which was received by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), that this act is considered an act of aggression and provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims in the world and has dire and bad consequences for those countries and their interests.

The statement held all countries that support, legitimize and accept this aggression, led by America, Britain, Sweden and Denmark, fully responsible for the resulting backlash.

The statement praised the honorable and responsible decision taken by the Salvation Government, represented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to prevent the import of Swedish goods, calling on all Islamic and Arab countries to take similar and honorable positions against these countries.

Source: Yemen News Agency

Insan Organization for Rights and Freedoms condemned the heinous crime against the citizen Abdul Rahman Abdul Karim Amin Thabet, from the Maqbana district in Taiz province, who was kidnapped and hidden by the mercenaries of aggression for more than a month and tortured until he died.

The organization indicated in a statement, a copy of which was received by Saba, that the victim was suffering from a mental illness, pointing to the escalation in the number of kidnappings and killings in the occupied areas against civilians, the latest of which was the assassination of the head of the World Food Program team in Taiz province.

Source: Yemen News Agency

The presidential committee tasked with correcting the conditions of the official bodies benefiting from endowment funds held a meeting today, chaired by the head of the committee – head of the education, culture and media sector, Hassan Al-Saadi.

The meeting, which was attended by the head of the General Authority for Endowments, Allama Abdul Majeed Al-Houthi, included representatives of government agencies benefiting from the properties and lands of endowments, the directives of the Revolution Leader, and the President of the Supreme Political Council for government agencies regarding correcting their conditions.

The meeting also reviewed the names of the entities that had delegated the Supreme Committee to nominate their representatives in the coordinating and sub-committees, and the tasks of the coordinating and sub-committees to implement the procedures for the use of endowment lands and real estate by government agencies, and to respond to inquiries raised by representatives of government agencies.

Head of the Ascending Committee indicated that the correction process is not random or for the purpose of correction only, without taking into account the circumstances of others.

He called on governmental and non-governmental agencies to expedite correction of their conditions.

He pointed out that there are incorrect cultures around the endowment, which requires concerted efforts and teamwork to address the accumulations, correct the cultures, and return the wheel of endowments to the right track.

The head of Awqaf Authority reviewed the tasks of all the presidential, coordinating sub-committees, their mechanism of work, and the role of representatives of government agencies in this aspect.

Source: Yemen News Agency