by Wahid Essaâfi, artistic director of JTC 2012
The theatre is revolutionary by its nature. It does not need to come from events nor change for any reason. The theatre is beauty born from beauty before it and continues to builds upon itself. All encompassing and uncompromising, it is not influenced by events or situations. It only changes as it matures slowly. In this way, revolution has not caused the theatre to redefine itself.
The theatre is revolutionary by its nature. The first performances were about mythology, beliefs and the social contract. Then, it transcended mythology with its rebellion, chipping away at the prevailing beliefs and questioning the sacredness of social contracts.
There is Laius, who rebelled against the gods and questioned the laws of divine order. There is Oedipus killing his father, marrying his mother, defying the laws of social contract, weakening the legitimacy of the norm, pushing the limits further and crossing previously forbidden thresholds.
There is the majestic Antigone who rejects Creon, who was proclaimed as protector of the prince. And then, she brings down the prince.
There is Achilles who refused the divine order against Iphigenia. He rises against the sacrifice demanded by the gods and opposes the prince.
There is Othello killing Desdemona, the North that was within her, North that he will destroy to escape her influence.
There are the characters of Molière, strange and marvelous, but who we also find appalling, not by their tragedy but by their caustic irony in a burlesque comedy. The rise of these kinds of characters moves us beyond the day-to-day, loosens the weight of traditions and brings radical criticism to society.
And the epics of Brecht! They bring into question everything about the established order and revolutionize artistic conventions. The actors mingle with the public. There are neither actors nor audience members.
None of them waited for revolution to be revolutionaries. They were in themselves a great revolution that shook up society, turned social contracts on their head, and shook up the religious, whose presence changed as a consequence.
And Yahia Yaîche! He did not wait for revolution to be who he is. Rooted in his land, a child of his century, he had a premonition about a future where only the artist understood the secrets.
And the artist! A pioneer for the future, he refines his work. It is because of that that he is feared by the prince.
And there is Nejma waiting for her last hour. She does not fear death. On the contrary, despite the final verdict, she plays and pushes death back. Laughing and full of light, she begins her life over.
Building on a religious base, founded on the primary legitimacy of belief, society has never been able to control the challenges brought forth in the theatre. It is there that we see the heroic posture of the artist, placing in doubt the established order and religious dogma. These are the artists, at time reckless, who have brought adventure, brought harmony, created new reality, delivering art in all its splendor.
They are the ones who established the eloquence of irony and the verve of the comic. They are the ones who broke off with a church, searching to break the theatre from its religions purposes.
Save art, nothing remains. Art is what unsteadies the divine tranquility, dethrones princes and their courts, denounces the sanctimonious, defeats favoritism and terror, which, despite their power cannot spoil the spirit of art. The gods are followed by other gods, the court and faithful are followed by others like them and only art remains neither dwindling nor coming to an end.
Art continues to write sentences and letter in gold. It draws beauty from colors that will never disappear. Its perpetual movement continues to build on itself which will then build upon that, each step adding to its longevity. Art continuously evolves and it does not stop. It has been through the past, is rooted in the present, and is a promise for the future. Save art, there are only reflections of the lingering vanity and the stubborn ideas weighing on our lives.