Because of Corona, the Palestinian "storyteller" launches theater shows on Facebook

Aseel soldier - occupied Jerusalem

The theatrical tour of the theater in which the Palestinian National Theater "Al-Hakawati" was supposed to open its season in April and May next, has been stalled due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, in addition to the postponement of the launch of a new play produced by the theater itself.

With the cancellation of several shows last March, and the hopes for the launching of a round of performances for twelve theatrical works produced by Al-Hakawati during the past three years were dissipated, the theater administration, in agreement with theater directors and actors, decided to launch a virtual festival on the social networking site Facebook, to show the plays. Different.

The director of the storyteller theater and actor Al-Maqdisi theater Amer Khalil announced the launch of the virtual festival to maintain communication with the public, as he stressed that "out of social responsibility and to alleviate the pressures experienced by the Palestinians and recreation about them, it was necessary to think outside the box to show these plays in the blue world Facebook."

Khalil called this initiative the "Al Hakawati Shows Festival on Facebook", and the first performances were launched last Sunday with the play "Green Salt", followed by the play "Who Killed Asmahan?", And Al Hakawati called on his page his fans to prepare for the presentation of the "text of a lead bag" next Sunday. .

The tour of performances that was supposed to roam both the city of Ramallah, Jenin, Bethlehem, Hebron and cities in the occupied interior, in addition to displaying plays on stage in Jerusalem, as part of a campaign supported by the Palestinian people in refusal of conditional funding.

From and to the people
On the financing of the theater, Khalil told Al-Jazeera Net that "this tour is supported by the theater by its artists and Swiss and French partners in response to the financing conditions set by the European Union," adding that "the theater's refusal granted them this year and next year, and to compensate for that, it was arranged to start with offers from and to the people so that they are sold Tickets are cheap. "

The theater director stressed that the administration will not give up organizing this tour after the emergence of the emerging virus crisis, and despite the harsh conditions of it, it opened new horizons and entered a wide audience for the theater through virtual performances.

Khalil added that since the announcement of the virtual festival, messages from people who never entered the theater, including public drivers, mechanics and grocery store owners, in addition to letters and their links from Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, France and America, inquired about the names of the plays and their dates.

New audience
This new audience, who admired the plays on the virtual world, assures Khalil that he will be enthusiastic about the idea of ​​coming to the theater later, hoping that the era of Corona will end, because there is no pain comparable to seeing the storytellers' seats being empty of its pioneers.

The theater actor Izzat Al-Natsheh is among the theatricals who will be shown plays in the virtual tour. When asked about his opinion on this initiative, he said that he is against the idea of ​​transferring the theater to the virtual world in general, but he is with this step in light of the compulsory quarantine on the population.

"People should always be encouraged to go to the theater and sit on its seats to interact with the actors emotionally and share their feelings in every scene, but Lord is harmful and beneficial. Perhaps these virtual performances encourage those who never go to the storyteller to be excited to go to him because his plays deserve to be present and interact."

The first plays that were shown by the actress Al-Natsheh, "Who Killed Asmahan?" Through a link on Facebook that the theater publishes on its page and deletes it after hours, and the most joyous thing about the Jerusalem actor that his relatives in Jordan and America, who were unable to attend the play in Jerusalem in two years ago, was able to attend by default.

For the first time, Al-Natsheh continues to attend a play for him and be among the audience, and about his feelings about that he said, "A strange feeling that I cannot describe. I started to think about the feelings of the viewers while they were watching the play with me at the same time. There is no doubt that some things were missing and I wished that everyone could follow The play is on stage. "

While Ibrahim Jawhar, the novelist and writer Al-Maqdisi sees, “The principle is that the audience will see the plays inside the theater with its airspace, flavor, stools, and lighting, but it is good to fill the free time currently with culture, science and thought.

When asked about the fear of some artists that the audience did not go to the theater after he easily brought them to their homes, he said, "This fear is legitimate, but this is the case of intellectuals in general. They offer and do not wait for a fee."

Palestinian youth Rola Athamneh - one of the fans of Al-Hakawati Theater loyal to his work for two decades - said, "In the theater, we will be meters away from the actors, we live all their feelings closely, and we turn to each movement and moment of improvisational moment, and this is difficult to be part of it in the virtual presentation." .

Although she appreciated and deeply admired the initiative of the Palestinian theater in occupied Jerusalem, she described it as a sympathy for the loyal audience of the theater, so that they can renew their meeting on the red seats that they wrote and wrote for decades.