(Waiting) … a performance of the workers’ theater on the stage of the igloo, inspired by Beckett’s famous text

Damascus-SANA

Theatrical director Talal Lababidi chose the idea of ​​waiting from a text Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett to build on it the events of his theatrical show entitled “Waiting”, which was presented by the Labor Theater Troupe on the stage of Al-Qabbani Theater for two consecutive days.

The show tried to approach the Syrian society in the dialects of its heroes, which are steeped in its locality, while simulating the concerns and problems of the people in the post-war phase and the crises they suffer from on several humanitarian, economic and social levels, trying to find solutions to these problems and get out of the waiting cycle towards changing reality.

Regarding his choice of the idea of ​​the show, the director, Lababidi, said in a statement to SANA: “I took the idea from a text Waiting for Godot and dropped the character’s shape on new characters from our Syrian society to raise through them the problems that emerged due to the war.”

Lababidi talked about the circumstances that accompanied the work before presenting it to the public, such as his assignment to present a theatrical performance by the Damascus Workers Union in a short period of time within specific capabilities, the most important of which is the number of actors who put him in front of limited options of works to choose afterwards a text “Waiting for Godot” due to the importance of the idea of ​​waiting with the need to present The problems of the lived reality without embellishment, especially with the suffering of the Syrian people as a result of the unjust siege and unjust unilateral measures.

Lababidi pointed out that the main text carries deep and difficult philosophical values, and it belongs to the pioneer of the theater of the absurd Beckett, which prompted him to simplify the ideas he carries to be closer to the audience at its different levels and to play with the meanings of the sentences to convey more than one idea, indicating that this show will be presented in the name of the Damascus Workers Union within the theatrical labor festival current year.

The director worked to simplify the ideas of the show while linking each character to a specific problem and naming them with clear connotations and symbolism, such as Job, Adam, Falak and Noah, who was the hope and savior for all the characters according to the vision and privacy of each of them.

Lababidi intended that the atmosphere of the show should be with all its night scenes until the last scene in which the atmosphere turned into daytime so that the light shows the details of the beautiful life of all the characters so that they come out of the darkness and decide not to waste years of their lives waiting for the unknown and to live the beauty of the moment.

The show is represented by Ghassan Mardini, Zine El Abidine Shaaban, Buthaina Yassin, Adnan Al-Shater, Al-Yassar Karado, and the presentation card includes Imad Hanoush, lighting design, Iyad Al-Tayeb, sound engineer, Sandra Shaaban, stage manager, Rawan Al-Abed, fashion and makeup design, Ribal Al-Hadi, music preparation, Haitham Mahawesh, Decoration and accessories, and Bissan Gharz El-Din, photography and design. .

Mohamed Samir Tahan