Tackling Terrorism With Plays
BRUSSELS — As the lights go dark, gunfire and explosions are heard. Onstage, a Muslim terrorist in an orange prison jumpsuit appears. We learn that he has killed people at a Jewish school.
The play is “Géhenne,” or “Hell,” the latest by Ismaël Saidi, a comic Belgian playwright and actor, whose work has been used by the French and Belgian governments as a cultural weapon against radicalization.
“Jihad,” from 2014, was about three hapless Belgian Muslims who travel to Syria but eventually understand that their attempt at holy war is a grave mistake. With “Géhenne,” the somewhat hopeful message of “Jihad” — that terrorists can come back from the dark side — has been tempered. Mr. Saidi, a practicing Muslim and former police officer, said performing “Jihad” in prisons caused him to doubt whether violent religious zealots can ever really change. His latest play argues that teaching young people how to get along in a multicultural society is far better than trying to reform violent criminals.
In the past two years, after a flurry of attacks, the French government has begun investing in efforts to shape young minds. It has given money to schools and other venues that host “Jihad,” while the Belgian government has spent 50,000 euros (about $54,000) to underwrite tours.
“What pains me is that this is about things we’ve been living for the past 25 years,” Mr. Saidi, who was born in Belgium to parents from Morocco, said of “Jihad” after a performance in a Paris suburb.
When the would-be jihadists meet an Arab named Michel, unaware that he’s Christian, one tells him not to worry, he’s not in Belgium looking for a job so he can use his real name.
“We need the kind of humor you find in ‘Jihad’ to talk about this topic,” said Hamza Irfan, 15, who attended with an after-school program. “It speaks to everyone.”
More than 100,000 people have seen “Jihad,” and Mr. Saidi talks to audiences afterward. Taking it on tour and discussing it with audiences has made him question his faith. He said, “I love something that I hated before: I love doubt.”
That doubt comes through in “Géhenne,” in which Mr. Saidi plays Ismaël, who has lost his legs after blowing himself up at the Jewish school. In prison, he imagines a conversation with a Roman Catholic priest who smokes hash with him and says he questions the existence of God, and with a woman he takes a shine to and who he discovers is a Jew. At the end of the play, we discover the woman and her daughter were victims of his attack, and the conversations are visions. “He killed her and her kid, and he understands at the end,” Mr. Saidi said. “That’s hell for him.”
Mr. Saidi said that his message in “Géhenne” was “that everything begins with ignorance and hate.” He added, “If somebody had taught Ismaël love for someone else, and not hatred for Jews, nothing would have happened.”