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L’Emigré
de
Brisbane
By
Georges
Schéhadé
Direction:
Nabil
El
Azan
Arabic
version:
Issa
Makhlouf
Original
Music:
Zad
Moultaka
Set
Design:
Jacques
Gabel
(France)
Lighting:
Philippe
Lacombe
Choreography:
Gaetano
Battezzato
(
France
–
Italy
)
Costumes:
Rabih
Keirouz
Artistic
Collaboration
and
Coordination:
Jihad
Al
Andary
and
Nadine
Mokdessi
Technical
Direction: Michel
Neaimeh
Appearances
(by
order
of
entrance
on
stage):
Pierre
Dagher
Abido
Bacha
Mounzer
Baalbaki
Camille
Salamé
Carole
Abboud
Hassan
Farhat
Randa
Asmar
Gabriel
Yammine
Julia
Kassar
Tarek
Bacha
And
Nicolas
Daniel
With
the
participation
of
Zad
Moultaka,
on
the
piano
A
young
dancer,
a
lyrical
singer
and
others
(choices
in
the
process
of
being
made
Synopsis
The
play
opens
with
the
arrival
of
a
hansom
cab
bringing
an
elderly
emigrant
back
to
his
native
village.
It
is
nighttime
and,
apart
from
some
dogs
howling,
the
beautiful
little
Sicilian
town
of
Belvento
seems
asleep.
The
following
morning
the
whole
village
wakes
up
to
the
news
that
the
emigrant
was
found
dead.
Apparently
he
had
come
back
to
search
for
a
son
whom
he
had
with
a
local
woman
before
leaving
Belvento.
Who
is
the
mother?
The
women
of
the
village
are
convoked
to
the
town
square
where
the
photo
of
the
murdered
emigrant
is
displayed.
They
all
seem
offended,
and
their
husbands
scandalized
by
the
suggested
taint
on
the
honor
of
one
of
them.
But
then
we
learn
that
the
dead
emigrant
had
brought
a
bag
stuffed
with
banknotes
to
give
to
his
son
and
heir.
That
changes
everything.
Especially
for
the
husbands
who
will
try,
one
after
the
other,
to
convince
their
wives
to
pretend
to
be
the
mother
of
the
illegitimate
son.
Right
up
until
a
dramatic
unravelling
of
the
mystery!
In
the
final
scene
the
same
coachman
brings
another
emigrant
to
Belvento,
not
because
it
is
his
hometown,
but
just
for
the
sake
of
“love
of
the
aesthetic!”
Notes
on
the
direction
“Who
speaks
of
money,
Ciccio,
speaks
of
turmoil,
ill
gotten
goods
and
immorality.
Such
is
the
bad
nature
of
man.”Bénéfico.
Act
3.
The
Emigrant
from
Brisbane
is
definitely
a
modern
work.
As
one
would
say
of
Shakespearean
drama,
and
universal.
Not
only
because
contemporary
man
from
now
on
will
be
an
emigrant
everywhere,
but
even
more
than
that,
because
money
is
the
great
victor
in
these
times
of
crises
of
all
sorts,
especially
in
the
crisis
of
the
mind.
One
must
honor
Schéhadé
for
having
so
well
put
his
finger
on
the
malefic
power
of
money
in
a
world
where
roots,
role
models
and
values
are
mixed-up,
lost
or
dissolve
completely.
From
whence
my
desire
to
bring
the
play
to
the
stage
free
from
its
old
village-y
noose.
It
is
now
set
in
a
modern
village
with
its
flashy
newly
rich,
immoral
class,
and
it’s
“mafiosi”(after
all,
we
are in
Sicily
!)
which
lends
itself
to
a
formidable
power
play.
All
this
takes
place
in
full
view
of
the
candid
young
adolescent
Anna
(the
angel
of
the
play)
who
is
looking
for
her
roots.
Unless
it
was
all
in
her
imagination…
So
we
find
young
Anna,
a
contemporary
Lebanese,
wandering
through
the
ruins
of
Baalbeck,
or
rather
dancing,
looking
into
the
memories
of
the
very
stones
for
traces
of
her
identity,
her
destiny,
when
she
finds
a
snapshot
of
a
young
man
with
whom
she
dreams
of
a
romantic
story.
A
story
in
which
a
certain
emigrant
returns
to
his
native
land
in
the
quest
of
a
lost
paradise,
and
of
an
identity
perhaps
lost
forever.
Anna,
following
her
dream,
lets
her
imagination
drift.
Some
silver
coins,
the
“color
of
the
moon”in
her
emigrant’s
pockets,
and
suddenly
we
have
a
night
of
drama
full
of
the
mysteries
of
the
human
soul.
The
Baalbeck
night
is
shining
with
a
thousand
desires,
sparkling
with
a
thousand
lights,
and
the
space
between
the
two
temples
(used
as
a
theater
for
the
first
time)
is
transformed
into
a
vast
and
stage
of
dreams.
If
“The
Emigrant
from
Brisbane
”
is
a
tragi-comedy
(there
is
both
laughter
and
blood!)
it
is
also
a
rêverie
of
a
rare
poetic
density.
To
the
marvel
of
Schéhadé’s
literary
language,
there
will
correspond
a
universe
where
the
marvellous
will
dominate,
in
all
the
elements
of
the
spectacle:
the
décor,
the
music,
the
light,
the
danse,
the
acting.
Finally,
the play
will
be
in
Arabic,
a
beautiful
language
new
to
the
production.
The
dialogue
will
be
a
mixture
of
literary
and
spoken
Arabic,
which
suits
the
poetry
of
Schéhadé
as
well
as
his
dramatic
force.
In
spite
of
the
language
used,
the
play
remains
based
in
Sicily
in
every
way.
Being
in
Arabic,
the
play
gives
the
talented
cast
of
Lebanese
actors the
opportunity
to
interpret
Schéhadé
and
to
present
the
playwright
to
a
large
audience.
It
will
be
the
occasion
to
recuperate
the
“aesthetic”
values
of
Georges
Schéhadé
which
are
shared
by
us
all. |
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