Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Changing Body And Society: A Speculative Examination Of Portraiture In Choucair’S Non-Representational Corpus, Kirsten Scheid

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What ways do portraits relate people to aesthetic practices and social configurations when representational and individualizing assumptions that ensue from figurative art cannot be assumed? If social being is not given, an art act might be seen to affect primarily an artist’s relation to the possibility of subjectivity. The idea that the audience of an artwork includes the artist herself raises questions about her self-understanding and social being.
Building on my ethnographic research, I conduct a speculative examination of portraiture in relation to the career of Saloua Raouda Choucair towards founding a local art history. To conduct my review, I …

Portraits De Téléspectateurs Turcs : Enquêter Au Coeur Du Quotidien, Nese Öztemir

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Dans le cas de la recherche en SIC, le portrait s’avère être une méthode adaptée pour pénétrer dans le contexte « naturel » de réception et ainsi rendre compte de ce qui se passe « autour de » la télévision. En ce sens, la pratique télévisuelle en Turquie constitue un levier intéressant pour étudier la façon dont l’organisation genrée du monde domestique travaille les rituels de réception. Comme le résume Pasquier (1999 : 233), regarder la télévision, c’est vivre une expérience organisée et socialement normée.
En s’appuyant sur les portraits individuels, travaillés dans le cadre d’entretiens semi-directifs menés dans deux …

Chouchou, Figure Gravée Dans La Mémoire Collective Du Théâtre Libanais, Rawan Kachmar

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Chouchou is the nickname of Lebanese artist Hassan Alâ’ed-dine (1939-1975). Hassan founded the Lebanese National Theatre (1965-1975), the first daily theatre in Lebanon. This theatre produced, during a ten-year period, twenty-six comedic plays in which Chouchou played the main character. Who is Chouchou, though, and how did he turn into a star in the eyes of the Lebanese general public of theatre? Chouchou — with his strong Beiruti accent, a vortex of extravagant movements, a sensitive soul with a fragile heart, a conman with his distinct moustache — appropriated his own unique physical and speech mannerisms, which rendered him a …

جان شمعون وتاريخ لبنان المعلّق, Hady Zaccak

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Jean Chamoun is one of the main Lebanese documentary filmmakers. After taking part in the Palestinian Political Cinema in the seventies, he documented, with his wife, the Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri, the main events of the Lebanese War, the resistance in South Lebanon in the eighties until the liberation of the South from Israeli occupation in 2000, and the 2006 war. In his work, Chamoun focused on the human being in his daily life and continuous struggle for dignity under the strain of history. His social and political documentaries, as well as his sole fiction drama – extremely popular but …

العروض الفنية المعاصرة – التجهيز والأداء الفني تأثير التراث والمجتمع والسياسة, Hana Kaaki

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A review of contemporary artistic practices in Lebanon in relation to tradition, the socio-cultural context of production, and politics.

Beyrouth Vagabond, Pascale Feghali

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Starting from the filmed narrative of three characters — Abou Youssef, a homeless person found during the day at the Sanayeh public garden; a security person in charge of a crumbling building in the Grand Hotels’ sector; and Fatmeh, who squats in an abandoned property in the same sector — this article introduces us into the heartland of Beirut through the eyes of tramps and vagabonds. It is made up of narratives and counter-narratives built on elements of reality but that, in fact, speak of another dimension of reality where truth is no longer an issue. The stories are set …

La Naissance De L’Autofiction Silencieuse Dans Le Cinéma D’Elia Suleiman : « Hommage Par Assassinat » (1992), Sandra Fatté

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This article questions the link between the aesthetics of silence shaped by Suleiman and his quest for identity. Through the analysis of the second short film by this Palestinian director, Homage by Assassination (1992), we underline this aesthetic and its stakes. In this film, Elia Suleiman incarnates ES, the silent character who appears for the first time on screen; he will be present in his three subsequent feature films. The story takes place one night during the Gulf War in a New York apartment where ES investigates the notion of identity. We introduce the notion of silent autofiction before analysing …

En Quête D’Image(S) : L’Emploi Des Archives Pour La Construction D’Une Mémoire (Visuelle) Palestinienne, Charlotte Schwarzinger

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By relying on the works of two Palestinian directors – one being a found-footage documentary and the other an experimental piece – this article examines the importance of archives in the elaboration of Palestinian visual memory. Through its complex cinematographic history and the “missing image / ‘invisibled’ image,” Palestinian creators today use the medium of film to bear witness to their presence. The author aims to think through the use of archives in this struggle against invisibility and toward the recognition of a history, a culture, and a memory that are constantly threatened by erasure. At the border between historical …

Iconoclasme, Blasphème Et Liberté De L’Art, Hassouna Mansouri

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Based on two films – La Ricotta by Pier Paolo Pasolini and The Message by Mustapha Akkad – this paper examines the relationship between art and religion. At the core of this debate lies an opposition between two semiotic approaches, defined by Umberto Eco as in verbis and in factis. In dealing with works of art, I will highlight the connection between these two concepts and the idea of “The Open Work.” I will then argue that the conflict arises from a shift in the debate from aesthetics to politics, and thus revolves around a certain margin of tolerance …

الهامش باعتباره خياراً والتحلّي بالهشاشة مقابل العنف, Abdullah Al-Kafri

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.قراءة في بعض ما يُقدَّم ضمن مشهد فنون الأداء في بيروت خلال عامي 2017 و2018

« Regards », Nouvelle Formule, Joseph Korkmaz

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Après vingt ans d’existence, la revue Regards se métamorphose entièrement. D’une revue annuelle limitée à une diffusion interne et rédigée en grande partie par des enseignants et des étudiants de l’Institut d’Études Scéniques, Audiovisuelles et Cinématographiques (IESAV) de l’Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth (USJ), elle passe à une publication semestrielle et comprend désormais un comité scientifique et un comité de lecture internationaux. Elle s’ouvre également aux contributions de chercheurs et d’universitaires, aussi bien locaux qu’étrangers...

Mémoire Et Conflit Dans « Le Dernier Jour Du Printemps » (آخر يوم في الربيع" 2018") De Fidaa Zidan, Najla Nakhlé-Cerruti

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Last Day of Spring (آخر يوم في الربيع" 2018") is a monodrama written and performed by Fidaa Zidan (فداء زيدان, b. 1989), premiered in July 2018 at the National Palestinian Theatre/El-Hakawati in Jerusalem. The play tells, in the first person, the story of a young girl from a Druze village in the Galilee who finds herself alone with her parents after the death of her brother during his military service in the Israeli army, compulsory for men of the Druze community in Israel since 1956, and who had been buried in a military cemetery. The sister wants to fulfil her …

La Mémoire Comme Ressource Et Enjeu De Lutte Dans Les Documentaires Syriens De L’Après 2011, Nicolas Appelt

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In Syrian cinematographic creation – essentially documentary – which escapes the control of the regime, memory occupies an important place in the representation of the conflict that tears the country apart. Drawing from three Syrian documentary films shot after 2011 – Houses without Doors, 194, Us Children of the Camp and The Taste of Cement – we will put into perspective how the memory of one side is mobilized as a resource for representing the conflict, including after leaving Syria, and, on the other hand, how it is an issue in reclaiming the story of this conflict, in a …

De L’Historien Au Citoyen : Une Nouvelle Génération D’Artistes Libanais À La Conquête De La Réconciliation D’Après-Guerre, Joséphine Parenthou

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Twenty-eight years after the ceasefire, the Lebanese civil war remains a constant theme for Beirut artworks and speeches, whereas society and institutions have made it a taboo. Art constitutes a fortunate entrance for apprehending the social world and its evolutions in a context of a long post-war period. The effectiveness of the reconciliation process, even its takeover by artworld actors, can be measured through unofficial paths. Moreover, the transformation of war social representations within the artworld, between a war generation and a post-war generation, reflects a redefinition of both the artist’s figure and function in its relationship to politics: formerly …

Decay As Political Metaphor In Ely Dagher's "Waves '98" And Mounia Akl's "Submarine", Joey Ayoub

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Lebanese cinema serves as a useful tool with which to assess postwar dynamics given the dominance of the civil war in artistic production since 1990. As the first postwar generation reached adulthood, we have been witnessing the inevitable rise of a “second wave” of postwar Lebanese cinema – defined as the generation of filmmakers born towards the end of or after the civil war. This essay analyses two postwar Lebanese films, Ely Dagher’s 2015 Waves ’98 and Mounia Akl’s 2016 Submarine, as unique responses to a feeling of despair brought about by the city/nation, explored through the theme of …

Ya Omri (104 Wrinkles) De Hady Zaccak, Joseph Korkmaz

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Elle est dure, la vieillesse. Simone de Beauvoir en sait quelque chose. Ici, l’âge de Henriette (104 ans), l’héroïne du film et grand-mère maternelle du réalisateur, ne laisse place à aucun euphémisme. Elle n’est pas une personne âgée, ni une femme d’un certain âge, mais bel et bien une vieille, et même une très vieille dame, car les stigmates des années vécues sont flagrants […]

Entretien Avec Hady Zaccak, Joseph Korkmaz

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Pourquoi un film sur votre grand-mère ? Aviez-vous un rapport particulier avec elle ou vous vous êtes intéressé à elle parce qu’elle est un cas rare d’une centenaire encore alerte ? Quand est-ce que vous avez commencé à la filmer ?
Un film sur ma grand-mère car le documentaire est un moyen de lutter contre la mort et de préserver la mémoire de ceux qu’on aime […]

« Cinematheque Beirut » Entretien Avec Nour Ouayda, Yara Nashawaty

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En juin 2018, Cinematheque Beirut, un projet dédié à la conservation de l’héritage cinématographique libanais, fut inauguré par l’association Metropolis Cinema. Ce dernier-né est sans doute son projet le plus ambitieux, car il résulte d’une multitude d’initiatives déjà mises en place par l’association et ne pourrait réellement évoluer qu’en s’inscrivant dans la durée. De plus, miser sur la préservation d’un héritage en danger relève d’une lourde responsabilité auprès d’un public souvent sceptique, témoin impuissant du bafouage, voire du sabotage, de son héritage culturel depuis le début de la guerre civile, puis durant la période dite de reconstruction dans les années …

Filming Against The System In North Africa: Pioneering Women Documentary Makers And Their Common Aesthetics, Stefanie Van De Peer

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This article draws attention to the pioneering women of North African documentary making, and specifically their work in addressing the image of women on screen in rapidly changing societies. Highlighting the creativity of the filmmakers in defying the contemporary censor or addressing taboo topics such as women’s rights, the history of women contributing to politics, or women’s roles in the wars for independence, this article uncovers neglected “feminist” histories and the ways in which women documentary makers tackle audio-visually challenging topics. The films under discussion show their creative potential to address difficult themes through a poetics of permissibility. This is …

« L’Insulte (L’Affaire No. 23) » De Ziad Doueiri, Joseph Korkmaz

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Comment un incident trivial – une dispute entre un Libanais chrétien et un ouvrier palestinien – peut-il devenir une affaire nationale à cause d’une simple insulte ? Le vrai sujet du film est le ressentiment que ressentent les chrétiens de Beyrouth-Est envers les Palestiniens, leurs anciens ennemis durant la guerre civile. La confrontation met en lumière l’évolution de la haine et l’impossibilité d’un pardon trente ans après la fin de la guerre. Le réalisateur fait ainsi preuve d’audace, traitant de front la question de l’amnésie/amnistie qui permit, de manière peut-être artificielle, la fin des combats.

« Tramontane (Rabih) » De Vatché Boulghourjian, Joseph Korkmaz

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The story of a blind Lebanese musician confronting an unforgiving bureaucracy and the traumas of a violent past – the Lebanese Civil War – Vatché Boulghourjian’s Tramontane (Rabih) explores questions of memory and the lingering ghosts of war through the struggles of a war orphan seeking to obtain a passport. The article examines the trials he endures in his quest to uncover his identity, along with decades-old family and political secrets, adopting a historical perspective that draws parallels between the protagonist’s journey and society’s broader struggle to confront a troubled chapter in the nation’s history.

Résumé

L’histoire d’un …

Entretien Avec Vatché Boulghourjian, Joseph Korkmaz

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Interview with Vatché Boulghourian, director of the movie Tramontane (Rabih), 2016, around the difficulties of representing the memory of civil war through the trials of a blind orphan.

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Entretien avec Vatché Boulghourian autour de son film Tramontane (Rabih), 2016, et des défis de traiter la mémoire de la guerre à travers les tracas bureaucratiques d'un orphelin aveugle.

الفنون المعاصرة من خلال أعمال ربيع مروة, Hana Kaaki

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The article deals with the works of Rabih Mroué and its place in contemporary artistic practices in the Middle East region. The question of the study centers on the specificity of contemporary practices and the creative process of the artists in question, and the redefinition of Aesthetics – at least the traditional meaning of the concept – in light of the transformations of artistic thought and achievements.

Résumé

L’article traite des travaux de Rabih Mroué et de la place qu’il occupe dans les pratiques artistiques contemporaines au Moyen-Orient. Cette étude se concentre sur les spécificités du processus créatif de l’artiste, …

Entretien Avec Ziad Doueiri, Joseph Korkmaz

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Entretien avec Ziad Doueiri, réalisateur du film L’Insulte (2017), sur les défis de la mise en scène et de la production d’un drame libanais à forte teneur politique.

La « Mimèsis » Dans Le Théâtre Et La Peinture, Joanna Raad

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Le terme mimésis vient du verbe mimisthai qui signifie imiter, ou plus précisément suivre un exemple ou faire une « représentation ». Ainsi, l’imitation, ou mimésis, est un principe académique qui impose un culte de la représentation fondé sur la reconnaissance. Cet article voudrait discuter la manière dont la mimésis et l’illusion au théâtre interagissent avec l’art, et plus particulièrement la peinture.

La Prédominance Des Techniques Audiovisuelles Et Numériques Au Théâtre, Marcel Ghosn

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The evolution of technologies in the audiovisual and theatre fields has succeeded in breaking the separation between actors and digital bodies. What is an actor today? Is he still essential on stage or in film? And what about digital bodies and their ability to produce and convey emotions and performances in the same way as a human actor?

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L'évolution des technologies dans les domaines du théâtre et de l’audiovisuel a permis d’effacer la frontière entre le corps de l’acteur et les corps numériques. Cela nous amène à poser la question : qu’est-ce qu’un acteur aujourd’hui ? Est-il toujours central …

Entretien Avec Le Producteur Georges Schoucair, Joseph Korkmaz

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Interview with Georges Schoucair, producer of the movie Tramontane (Rabih, 2016).

فسيفولد إيميلوفيتش مايرخولد العبقري المشاغب, Michel Jabre

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Meyerhold, dubbed “the people’s artist” by the Soviet regime, led a tumultuous artistic life and carried out provocative experiments in unconventional theatre settings. After cofounding the Moscow Art Theatre with renowned colleagues such as Stanislavski and Danchenko, he left the company to regain his independence as an actor and stage director. He then developed his theoretical concept of “conditional theatre,” reinterpreting classical plays in innovative ways and reimagining them within a renewed contemporary theatrical context.

Résumé

Meyerhold, surnommé « l’artiste du peuple » par le régime soviétique, a eu une vie artistique tumultueuse et a mené des expérimentations provocantes dans …

Éditorial, Joseph Korkmaz

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Le cinéma libanais s’illustre par son dynamisme manifeste dans le nombre de films tournés. Des comédies légères épinglent quelques caractéristiques et travers de la société et des mœurs libanaises. Des feuilletons télévisés engourdissent une frange importante de la population, avide de romantisme et d’aventures rocambolesques.
De ce lot de productions émergent des œuvres qui méritent considération et encouragement, surtout quand il s’agit de premiers films [...]

مسـرح شـوشـو للأطفال, Rana Azzaz

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Theatre for children is grounded in imaginative creativity and forms an educational, intellectual, and aesthetic tradition that refines a child’s spirit while developing taste, a sense of beauty, and openness. In Lebanon, plays designed for children began appearing in professional theatre venues in the late 1960s. The “Chouchou Children’s Theatre” was among the earliest and most significant initiatives, drawing a strong response from young audiences. In this article, I examine this phenomenon – which emerged spontaneously and without a clear methodology – with particular attention to audience reception.

Résumé

Le théâtre pour enfants est une tradition éducative, intellectuelle et esthétique …