Toneelhuis theatre-maker Mokhallad Rasem takes a modern-day look at Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and creates a 20-minute show.
How does an Arab theatre director view the world situation? What does ‘waiting’ mean?
Does your background play a role in what waiting means for you? Does waiting mean the same the world over? Does who or what you are waiting for make a difference? Under what circumstances do you wait? There are numerous forms of waiting: waiting for papers, waiting for insight, waiting for the pain to pass, waiting for a letter, waiting for the return of the one you love, waiting for death, for God, for better times.… Wachten: a play in word and image.
Wachten was selected for the Fringe Madrid Festival and won third prize at the BE Festival in Birmingham in 2014.
In addition to making an extensive tour through Belgian schools, social organizations and refugee centres, the production has been presented in Uganda, Morocco, India, the United Kingdom, Spain, Egypt, Belgrade and the Netherlands. Among other places this season, Wachten will be playing at Fedasil in Brussels, at Gastvrij Boechout, a refugee initiative in Boechout and at Leren Ondernemen, a community centre for the poor in Leuven.
“Rasem pes into the metropolis of Antwerp to find out what ‘waiting’ means for its inhabitants. And he lets them speak in their own language. From romantically waiting for that special person to resignedly waiting for the tram and heartlessly being forced to wait for papers, for a place to call home. Like modern incarnations of Vladimir and Estragon, the testimonies of the asylum-seekers, projected onto frayed pieces of linen, hover between absolute despondency and unremitting hope.” - Charlotte de Somviele in De Morgen, 10 June 2013
Waiting, created by Mokhallad Rasem, uses projections on torn sheets to explore what it means to wait. The strongest moment comes when a refugee talks of waiting two years for the papers that never materialise. The gaps between the torn sheets creates a jagged scar across his face, his life.
concept, direction
- Mokhallad Rasem
creation & play
- Lore Uyttendaele
- Jessa Wildemeersch
- Mokhallad Rasem
- Bassim Mohsen
video editing
- Saad Ibraheem
in the context of
- moussem.eu
production
- Moussem Nomadisch Art Center
with the support of
- Europese Unie
executive producer
- Toneelhuis
in collaboration with
- Association Kulturanova
