“Those who know me will find that they did not really know me, those who do not know me yet, will curse the day they met me,” warns Hanane Hajj-Ali at the start of her performance.
Hanane Hajj-Ali is one of the most famous theater figures and agitprop exponents in Lebanon, even if she is now already past fifty. The monologue of the actress, wife and mother who goes jogging every day to prevent osteoporosis, obesity and depression, takes the viewer through the streets of Beirut and into her dreams, desires and disillusionments and the characters she interprets.
The daily jogging ritual has contradictory effects. Against the backdrop of a city that destroys to rebuild and rebuilds to destroy, the two hormones released by exercising, dopamine and adrenaline, also seem to have alternating destructive and constructive effects.
With Jogging Hanane Hajj-Ali presents a multi-layered text that eschews neither the personal nor the political.
With Hanane Hajj Ali
Text Hanane Hajj Ali
Dramaturgy Abdullah Alkafri
Artistic direction, set design Éric Deniaud
Lights Sarmad Louis, Rayyan Nihawi
Sound Wael Kodeih
Costumes Kalabsha, Louloua Abdel-Baki
Co-production Arab Funds For Arts and Culture
With the support of Heinrich Böll Stiftung – MENA Office (Beyrouth), the French Embassy in Lebanon, the French Institute in Lebanon, The British Council, SHAMS Association, Collectif Kahraba, Al Mawred Athaqafy (Cultural Ressource), Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre (Brussels), Zoukak – Focus Liban 2016, Artas Foundation, Vatech, Khalil Wardé SAL, Orient Productions
“Those who know me will find that they did not really know me, those who do not know me yet, will curse the day they met me,” warns Hanane Hajj-Ali at the start of her performance.
Hanane Hajj-Ali is one of the most famous theater figures and agitprop exponents in Lebanon, even if she is now already past fifty. The monologue of the actress, wife and mother who goes jogging every day to prevent osteoporosis, obesity and depression, takes the viewer through the streets of Beirut and into her dreams, desires and disillusionments and the characters she interprets.
The daily jogging ritual has contradictory effects. Against the backdrop of a city that destroys to rebuild and rebuilds to destroy, the two hormones released by exercising, dopamine and adrenaline, also seem to have alternating destructive and constructive effects.
With Jogging Hanane Hajj-Ali presents a multi-layered text that eschews neither the personal nor the political.
