JOGGING / ALMADA FESTIVAL

Francesco Chiaro in Persinsala 8 Julho 2023 | notícia online

Flying ingeniously through centuries of gender oppression and patriarchal gaslighting, Jogging by Beirut-based actress, writer and activist Hanane Hajj Ali connects the gloomily bright dots that make up the constellation of women’s subjugation, rebelling to the mainstream narrative of insanity-driven own-child killings and exposing at the same time the systemic violence of which the “weaker sex” has always been a victim of.

«We women are the most beset by trials of any species that has breath and power of thought». With these words, Euripides’ Medea addresses the women of Corinth, publicly proclaiming the unjust marginalisation of women in society. Indeed, her monologue -so powerfully feminist and hence dangerous to the status quo (King Creon will end up calling her a «grim scowling scourge against your husband» before banishing her and, en passant, admitting to be afraid of her)- clearly identifies the inequality between men and women in Ancient Greece’s society, all the while passionately decrying the pain and lamentation that accompanies the condition of being reputable and valuable only when submitted to and objectified by an husband. And yet, to this day, Medea is still as a monster – a mother capable of killing her own children out of “madness” and revenge. But was she, really?

Flying ingeniously through centuries of gender oppression and patriarchal gaslighting, Beirut-based actress, writer and activist Hanane Hajj Ali connects the gloomily bright dots that make up the constellation of women’s subjugation, rebelling to the mainstream narrative of insanity-driven, child-killing motherhood and exposing at the same time the systemic violence of which the “weaker sex” has always been a victim of. «Hanane, a fifty-something year old Lebanese actress and citizen, exercises daily to avoid osteoporosis, obesity and depression. She takes walks in her secluded, personal space and in the open space of Beirut. Along the way she revisits dreams, desires, hopes, disillusions, characters and roles – mostly several Medeas with whom she shares some commonalities».

And so she runs, torn between dopamine and adrenaline (destruction and construction) amidst a city that «destroys to build and builds to destroy». Tired of the impossibility of truth in the rotten Lebanese heaven, Hanane Hajj Ali resolves to defy the censorship laws of her own country, unleashing the pent-up rage and indignation of generations of women and pouring it all into a text that resembles «an illegitimate bastard born of sin, where the thoughts of the actress have become like daughters who get pregnant out of wedlock without a care in the world, without having to witness or sign a marriage certificate or obtain an official permit from State Security!».

By invoking the stories of Yvonne -a mother who poisoned her two children before killing herself- and Zahra -a comrade whose sons were sacrificed to the altar of war-, Jogging gives shape and name to the ghosts of patriarchy, religion, politics, impunity and fatalism, unmasking the crushing gearwheels of domination that clang ever so loudly -and ever so sneakily- in a country corroded by oppression, silencing and erasure. All that is left, there, is the fire of art.

The show was played within the 40^th Almada Festival
Incrível Almadense – Salão de Festas
rua Sociedade Filarmónica Incrível Almadense 8A – Almada (Lisbon)
Friday 7, 2023 at 21:30
Saturday 8, 2023 at 18:00
Sunday 9, 2023 at 15:00 and 21:30

the Almada Festival presents
Jogging
by Hanane Hajj Ali

with Hanane Hajj Ali
text and concept Hanane Hajj Ali
dramaturgy Abdullah Alkafri
direction Eric Deniaud
light design Sarmad Louis, Rayyan Nihawi
sound design Wael Kodeih
costume design Kalabsha, Louloua Abdel-Baki
coproduction Arab Funds for Arts and Culture
with the support of Heinrich Böll Stiftung – MENA Office (Beyrouth), l’Ambassade de France au Liban, l’Institut français au Liban, The British Council, SHAMS Association, Collectif Kahraba, Al Mawred Athaqafy (Cultural Ressource), Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre (Bruxelles), Zoukak – Focus Liban 2016, Artas Foundation, Orient Productions, Vatech, Khalil Wardé SAL

Vertebra Prize for best actor- Festival Off Edinbourg 2018 Prix Gilder-Coigney décerné par The League of Professional Theatre Woman 2020

Ph. by Marwan Tahtah