‘Playback theatre’ relives Syria’s compelling tales
BEIRUT: A Syrian woman walked on stage and began telling the story of her brother’s kidnapping in the early years of her country’s civil war, wiping away tears as she recalled the 2013 incident that changed her life.
The woman, who identified herself as Mae from Homs, said Ihsan’s kidnapping in 2013 turned her into a more tolerant person.
Inside the theatre in Beirut, many other Syrians listened carefully. Once Mae was done, 10 Syrian actors dressed in black began re-enacting what she had just said, one of them screaming, “Ihsan, I miss you a lot!”
The group of seven men and three women has been training for three months to do “playback theatre” during which members of the audience tell their stories and then see them re-enacted on stage an initiative to get war victims to get reconciled.
The training was organised by Fighters for Peace, which was founded in 2014 by former Lebanese militia members. They have been using playback theatre for years as part of their campaign to promote peace.
“By reacting to what the members of the audience say, we are helping them heal,” said Maher Sheikh Khodor, 28, a photographer and graphic designer from Syria who has been living in Lebanon since 2014.
Another team member, Hassan Aqoul, 28, said the training “broke the ice between us”. Aqoul, who has been living in Lebanon since 2012, said those who trained them are experienced and a few days after the training started “we started feeling as if we have been friends for a long time”.