Dimanche 21 juin | Amit Berlowitz | Reportage
THE EL-HAKAWATI (STORY TELLER’S) THEATRE
The theatre was established in 1984 in the old Al-Nuzha cinema in the Bab A-Azhara neighborhood in East Jerusalem. El-Hakawati was formed in 1977 by a group of young creators that included Francois Abu Salem, Amer Khalil, Jackie Lubeck, Radi Shehadem Eduard Mualem, Admam Tarabshesh and Ibrahim Khalayleh. They believed theatre is tied to stories and a vision and not necessarily a place. The theatre’s repertoire included Jidaria, a play based on a poem by Mahmoud Darwish, and two co-productions with the French playwright Jerome Savary and his Magic Circus from Nice (A Thousand Nights of a Stone Thrower, and Galilean Ali).
From its establishment the theater was known as the Palestinian National Theater (PNT), and became a national Palestinian symbol. As such it faced problems with the Zionist establishment.
The years of the first Intifada, from 1988, hurt the theater. Not only did the interest in art decrease, but the freedom of movement of its audience was impaired and Palestinians from outside Jerusalem had difficulties traveling due to blockages and curfews. Most of the theater members left El-Hakawati, continuing their work in other places. In 1999, Jackie Lubek established the Theater Day Production in Gaza and Hebron. Radi Shehadeh formed the Al Syyreh Theater in Al-Maga in Saudi Arabia in 1992. In 1990 Eduard Mualem formed the Astar Theater and the same year Admam Tarabsheh the Al Meydan Theater in Dubai.
Not supported by Palestinian funds due to Israeli laws, the El-Hakawati Theater suffered censure and was shut down a number of times on Israeli Government decrees.
François Abu Salem, who had dedicated his entire life to the El-Hakawati Theater, committed suicide in 2011. Amir Khalil, who in 2011 established the Pocket Theater in Jerusalem, closed it when he was asked to return to El-Hakawati as its manager, a position which he still holds today.
These days the theater is busy rehearsing Des Roses et du Jasmin, a new play set to open in June, directed by Adel Hakim. This is the theater’s first co-production with the Theâtre d’Ivry. The play tells the story of a Palestinian family through three generations living in Jerusalem in the period between the end of World War II and the first Intifada.
El-Hakawati was established in order to promote theatrical education for the Palestinians in Palestine, to train actors and form a cultural community with international ties. As such the theater continues to exist despite the political difficulties. I hope that the story of the El-Hakawati theater group, the story of the Palestinian theater and identity, a story of loyalty and dedication, will receive international acknowledgment, and will continue to exist as an expressive tool for Palestinian personal and national ideas.
— East Jerusalem, May 2015.
[For Amit Berlowitz’s other chronicles, click here.]