Part of: Fast Forward Festival 3
Theater

FFF3 | Gardens Speak

Tania El Khoury

Dates

Prices

5 — 15 €

Location

Onassis Stegi

Time & Date

Day
Time
Venue
Day
Wednesday-Friday
Time
19:00, 20:00, 21:00
Venue
5th floor hall, Onassis Stegi
Day
Saturday-Sunday
Time
18:00, 19:00, 20:00, 21:00
Venue
5th floor hall, Onassis Stegi

Information

Tickets

Full price: 10 €
Reduced-Unemployed: 5 €

Entrance every 1 hour with 10 audience members each time.
Reservation is recommended due to limited availability.

General

The activity takes place in a non-theatrical venue which is not accessible to people with mobility impairments.

There are houses in Syria with graves hidden in their gardens... Ηear the true stories of ten ordinary Syrians who were killed during the early periods of the uprising.

Photo: Cristos Sarris

“Even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he wins.”

Walter Benjamin

There are houses in Syria with graves hidden in their gardens. There, in rear courtyards not public cemeteries, well hidden beneath the soil and often without a grave marker of any sort, the beloved dead killed in the first mass anti-government demonstrations of 2011-13 lie safe. Even funerals could turn families into targets for the regime, and by burying their dead at home could the living -parents, comrades, relatives and friends- stay safe.

“Gardens Speak” invites you to open your ears to the true stories of ten dead Syrian individuals through the accounts of their relatives and friends as well as found recordings evidencing their last moments.

The stories of ten men and women who were killed in Syria in 2011-13, during the first years of the insurgency, tell their dreams, fears and struggles, their unknown and unspeakable histories are brought into the light by the award-winning Lebanese artist, winner of the Total Theater Innovation Award and the Arches Brick Award. As El Khoury notes: “Grief can mobilize consciences against the oppressors. Relating the lives and deaths of these ten martyrs can become an act of resistance against the regime's efforts to kill even the dead.”

Just ten audience members at a time are invited into this rite of memory. They are called upon to engage body and soul, politically and emotionally, as they squat over the 'graves' of ten victims of opression.

    Image 1 / 5

    Photo: Cristos Sarris

    Image 2 / 5

    Photo: Cristos Sarris

    Image 3 / 5

    Photo: Cristos Sarris

    Image 4 / 5

    Photo: Jesse Hunniford

    Image 5 / 5

    Photo: Jesse Hunniford

Read More

Some of the Press reactions for the performance: "This piece will change the way you think" (“What's on Stage”), "Eerily absorbing" (“Evening Standard”), “Out of the most specific experience, Tania El Khoury crafts something massive.” (Paul Mason, “Channel 4”)

Tania El Khoury is a live artist working in London and Beirut. She creates interactive installations and performances in which the audience is an active collaborator. Tania’s work has been shown in five continents in spaces ranging from museums to cable cars. She is associated with Forest Fringe and is co-founder of Dictaphone Group, an urban research and site-specific performance collective in Beirut.

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Credits

  • Concept and Direction

    Tania El Khoury

  • Production Manager

    Jessica Harrington

  • Research Assistant and Writer (Arabic)

    Kinana Issa

  • Calligraphy and Tombstones Design

    Dia Batal

  • Set Design

    Abir Saksouk

  • Sound Recording & Editing

    Khairy Eibesh

  • Co-commissioned by

    Fierce Festival, Next Wave Festival, and Live at LICA.

  • Developed through

    the Artsadmin Artists’ Bursary Scheme.

  • Supported by

    Arts Council of England and British Council.

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