“Scheherazade in Baabda” by Zeina Daccache, founder of
Catharsis: Lebanese
Center
“Theater can exist anywhere,” says Daccache, who started out
as an actress and became involved with drama therapy in 2001 in drug
rehabilitation centers. But Baabda prison is not just “anywhere” and Daccache
takes full advantage of the setting, playing on the fears the audience has
about the unknown housed inside.
Built originally to accommodate 30 inmates, Baabda prison
now holds around 60 to 70 women at any time in cramped quarters. Some are
imprisoned for murder, many for drug-related crimes and robbery, and many still
await sentencing.
After entering through the barbed gates, the play opens on
the stairwell leading to the promenade where the stage is set up. The actors
stand staggered on the steps, blocking the audience’s way, holding the
onlookers with their gaze. You can’t be sure whether the stare is menacing,
challenging or simply curious – a result of not seeing people from “outside” in
a long time. Hesitant audience members are rescued by one of the actors,
calling out “Ahlan wa sahlan fikon bi Baabda,” cackling as she takes your hand
and leads you to your seat.
The seats swivel in the small space that has been converted
into a stage with a raised platform along three of the walls from which the
actors pace, dance, sing and stare down at their audience. In the opening scene,
each one takes turns in the spotlight, singling out an audience member as they
speak – “makeup is forbidden,” “no mobile phones are allowed.” The tone softens
as one says she misses her father, another her children. The last woman asks
“What will you think of us after the play?”
The play is a chance for the women involved to share their
stories and stand up to the judgment they once feared from society, Daccache
explains.
Unlike Daccache’s work with Roumieh inmates staging a
version of the well-known play “12 Angry Men,” she wrote the script for
“Scheherazade in Baabda” using real stories that the women shared during drama
therapy sessions since July 2011. Comprised mostly of monologues, the actors
recount their own pasts while other scenes are an amalgamation of many women’s
stories, some of whom participated in the therapy but declined to be a part of
the play. As such, we have no way of knowing who is telling their own story,
highlighting the common experiences that led the women to Baabda.
“Confidence does not exist in prisons. No one trusts anyone.
They feared that if they tell their story they will be judged. Then, when they
started to share during the sessions, they began to realize a lot of their
pasts were the same. They had all experienced a lot of violence, difficult
marriages, divorce, domestic and family violence,” Daccache says.
The stage is stark and bare, and virtually the only set is
provided by two barred windows – one internal, looking into the adjacent
recreation room and the other opening to a striking view to the sea and outline
of Beirut .
These windows are central to many scenes in the play, a motif that arose out of
one of the therapy sessions Daccache describes.
“When I asked the place they hate the most in this prison,
they all said this window. They said they hate looking out this window because
it reminds them they are not free. One said she missed the sea, another can see
her family home from here.”
Daccache weaves these stories into a scene where the actors
take turns delivering monologues seated at the open window, sun streaming into
an otherwise dark set. One of the younger inmates has a morning coffee and
conversation with her mother through the bars. Another speaks to a young girl
on the playground at the school down the hill, warning her not to make the
mistakes she has made. Yet another tells us how she has always wanted to learn
to drive a car but never had the chance as she has been in prison since she was
18 years old.
“Drama therapy consists of theater exercises with
therapeutic goals – today you re-enact your relationship with your father.
You’re acting it out but at the same time liberating your feelings,” explains
Daccache, seated in the promenade after the run-through. She adds that once the
women recognized how much they had in common, they began to address the sense
of injustice and victimhood that permeates their lives, but, through the
therapy, “they also started to think about where they went wrong. About me, not
them.”
Many of the scenes in the play tell stories from the
perspective of being a victim of domestic violence and living in a patriarchal
society, but Daccache wanted to emphasize responsibility as well. The last
scene is a poignant example when one of the actors says “I will never tell my
son, ‘don’t cry.’”
“The whole time they are criticizing men for being
patriarchal, but need to recognize where they hold responsibility for the
society,” Daccache explains. “It’s not about denying injustice but taking
responsibility for your own destiny.”
Daccache’s actors have taken this lesson to heart. At the
end of their rehearsal, the 23 women gather to talk about the play, first
asking for the reaction of the small audience: Were we scared to come to
Baabda? What do we think of them?
When asked if they were afraid to share their stories, that
they might be judged, the answer was a resounding no.
“This play has liberated me from things hidden inside that I
couldn’t say. I used to be afraid to talk about them and ashamed. Whether it is
nice or not to talk about, I’m doing something to tell others so no man will
ever beat a woman, even my own son,” says one of the actors, who is accused of
murder and has spent 14 years in Baabda.
“We used to be afraid, but we have no more fear.”
To attend a performance of “Scheherazade in Baabda” or for
more information on the activities of Catharsis call 03-162 573 or email
info@catharsislcdt.org.
By Alex Taylor
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