Following on from Irakese Geesten (‘Iraqi Ghosts’, Best New Play award Theater aan Zee 2010; selected for the 2010 Flemish Theatre Festival) and Monde.com (Facebook) (Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2011), Monty invited new Antwerp citizen Mokhallad Rasem to create another work. He chose Caligula, based on Camus’ classic which he knew very well. Rasem’s play was presented at the fifth edition of Antwerpse Kleppers in 2012.
Even when still studying theatre in Bagdad, Rasem wanted to direct Caligula but performances of the play were banned under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. Shortly after the fall of Hussein, in 2005, the then 23-year-old Rasem set to work on the play as his final project. It was the first production of Caligula in Iraq for more than 35 years. Seven turbulent years later Rasem came up with a completely new version of Caligula, a contemporary play which delves to the very heart of dictatorial power.
concept, direction
- Mokhallad Rasem
author
- Peter Anthonissen
text, performance
- Lore Uyttendaele
- Mokhallad Rasem
- Abudhar J Abbas
- Hussein Ali
- Bassim Altayeb
- Jessa Wildemeersch
set, light and costume design
- Mokhallad Rasem
video
- Saad Ibraheem
musical design
- Jens Maurits Bouttery
- Roeland Luyten
production
- Monty
coproduction
- Toneelhuis
