Bar y Bar, Night by Night, Story by Story, onward! (Enkidu Khaled)
2021
Bar by bar, night by night, story by story, onward! departs from Allah 99, Hassan Blasim's cheeky debut novel in which a writer travels the world to collect the stories of 99 people from the Middle East: a DJ who used to work as a doctor in a Syrian hospital during the ISIS occupation, a man making money by selling dead flies, an Iraqi cab driver who can't stop crying while collecting all kind of illnesses.
From the Youtube Man to Ali Transistor: in every story the real is in the surreal, the banal in the tragic. It’s only one step between getting drunk, a blowjob and a car bomb. What is appearance, what is authentic? It is precisely this boundary that Enkidu explores in a scheherazade-like story marathon, in which three performers and a DJ try to get into the head and skin of the novel characters.
Enkidu Khaled lives in both the Middle Eastern and the European world. He uses the theater to tell stories that challenge the clichés and fantasies that both worlds have about each other. Bar by bar, night by night, story by story, onward! starts from a fascination for contemporary storytelling as a tool to get a grip on a fragmented world.
by & with Sara Dziri, Nele Vereecken, Joachim Robbrecht, Stan Wannet, Dhyaa Joda, Wouter Hilllaert, Enkidu Khaled | based on the novel by Hassan Blasim | lightdesign Luc Schaltin | technique Sanja Gergoric | technique sound Arzu Saglam | outside eye Myriam van Imschoot | production 0090 | coproduction Theater Rotterdam, C-Takt, Kaaitheater, Brakke Grond, Kultuurfaktorij Monty, Kaap, Moussem, Het Laatste Bedrijf | thanks to Lisa Skwirblies, Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas | with the support of BUDA, workspacebrussels, De Markten, Vlaamse Gemeenschap, stad Antwerpen, Tax Shelter Belgische Federale Overheid, Gallop Tax Shelter | picure up ©Luc Schaltin pictures under © Johan Pijpops
Enkidu Khaled – God 99 – Bar by bar, night by night, story by story, onward! Etcetera, Esther Tuypens, 29.11.21
