Beirut – Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Moawad has faced widespread threats to promote and normalize Israeli funding for his work, leading to the cancellation of performances of his work scheduled for this April and next May in Beirut. Le Monod Theater in Beirut has announced it has canceled performances of a play by artist Mouwad after a judicial notice was sent against him in the wake of “severe threats” received by “certain artists and technicians” for allegedly defaulting with Israel.
The Justice Department statement called for the arrest of Mowad, the director of the popular French drama “La Colline,” for “the crime of conniving with the Israeli enemy,” which he described as a “default history” with him. Beirut Theater regrets to “announce the cancellation of the international performance of the play 'A Wedding Feast for the Cave Men' scheduled for April 30.”
“The theater explained in its statement that this difficult decision was taken due to the unprecedented pressures and serious threats to which Mono Theater and some artists and technicians were exposed (…) and aired hostile expressions or defamatory accusations, but the military public prosecution against the international writer and director Wagdi Mowat filed a statement against the investigation. “The safety of our staff, technical crews and our audience is our absolute priority,” he added.
While affirming its “permanent commitment to freedom of expression”, the theater promised to “defy all obstacles and move forward in presenting great theatrical works”. Theater director Josien Poulos said, “For the past two weeks, the actors participating in the play have been harassed through their phones, and we as a theater are also harassed … and after filing a judicial report against Mowat, we can no longer take the risk. Adding, “A work of this magnitude It's very unfortunate that we have to cancel… especially since the cast is all Lebanese.”
In a statement to the non-governmental “Representatives of the Ex-Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission”, a lawyer representing seven ex-detainees in Israel submitted a statement to his company “before the military's general prosecution against Mowat as an Israeli enemy and in violation of Israeli law, in which he was “competent to stop the demonstration. Officers should be appointed,” he demanded.
The Commission considered that Mowat's plays were “financed by the Israeli enemy” and that he was spreading the “idea of normalization” with it. On April 6, the “Campaign to Boycott Israel's Supporters in Lebanon” demanded the suspension of performances of Mouawad's play, citing its “history of normalizing and promoting Israeli occupation”. According to an official statement released by the campaign, the campaign asked the relevant authorities to stop the operation “to prevent a default and to whitewash the crimes of the Israeli enemy”.
Among the allegations circulated in some media, the play “All Birds” in 2017 was sponsored by the Israeli Embassy in Paris and the “Kamiri” theater in Tel Aviv. Originally written in French by Mouawad, the play was to be presented on the Beirut stage in the Lebanese dialect, with most of its roles played by Lebanese actors. Scheduled to run until next May 19, the play tells the story of a Lebanese family living amid daily bombings and blackouts during Lebanon's civil war between 1975 and 1990, and preparing for their daughter's wedding.
According to a previous statement about the drama “Mono,” “nostalgia for a lost past, the pain of separation and the fear of war” are at work. Lebanese parties, including the Phalange party, accused Hezbollah of being behind the campaign targeting Mowat. The Phalange said in a statement: “This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that this team has stood against art, cinema and theatre, sometimes for religious moral reasons and sometimes because of allegations of collusion or dubious ties. An excuse to ignore Israel, knowing that it has no relationship with Israel, close or even remotely.” With this theatrical work.
The Falange appealed to “international cultural organizations to consider and act to liberate Lebanon culturally from the grip of darkness and ignorance.” It is not strange that those who have previously banned Ms. Fairouz's songs at the Lebanese University in Hatham under the guise of 'singing is forbidden'. Strange to him, so we face a war to ring again the bells of culture and art.” In Lebanon not now, not tomorrow, it will be too late.”
