In the maze of discourses – monodrama Bāy bāy Ğīllū (Bye Bye Gillo) by Ṭaha ‘Adnān

Summary

In 2013, the theatre group al-Ḥāra from Bayt Ğalā in Palestine staged the play Bāy bāy Ğīllū by Ṭaha ‘Adnān, a Moroccan writer living in Belgium. The performance directed by Baššār Marquṣ was very well received not only in Palestine, but also in other Arab countries and in Europe. The performance was staged in France, Belgium, Italy and other countries. Nağlā Qumū’ from the Tunisian newspaper aṣ-Ṣabāḥ wrote that “Bye Bye Gillo raises essential humanistic issues in an extremely expressive way”.1 In contrast, Ségolène Thos-Collignon from the French newspaper “La Liberté” described the performance as “ingenious and moving”.2 Ṭaha ‘Adnān's play also drew the attention of the Moroccan director Ibrāhīm al- Hinā’ī, who staged it in Marrakech in 2014. Monodrama Bye Bye Gillo has not ceased to attract the attention of European directors for almost a decade. In 2012 it was chosen by the Contemporary Drama Forum at the Greek International Theatre Institute, translated into Greek and presented on stage during the Third Meetings of the Contemporary Theatre in Athens. In 2014, the Belgian playwright and director Michael de Cock in collaboration with the Arsenaal Theatre and Moussem Nomadic Play Centre staged Ṭaha ‘Adnān's monodrama in Brussels. Two years later Bāy bāy Ğīllū appeared on the Italian theatre stage. The performance, in collaboration with La Campagnia Italiana di Prosa-Genova was directed by Elena Siri. Bāy bāy Ğīllū could be seen in the fall of 2019 at the Tor Bella Monaca Theatre in Rome.

It is worth mentioning that the monodrama written by the Moroccan writer in 2011 won the second prize during the International Monodrama Festival in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. A year later it was published for the first time in the collection of Al-‘Āzifa. ‘Ašar masraḥiyyāt mūnūdrāmā ‘arabiyya (The Player. Ten Arabic Monodramas) in Fujairah. In the same year, its English translation appeared in the collection titled Ten Arabic Plays: the Winnings Plays of the International Monodrama Competition, 2012–2014. Shortly afterwards, the play along with the other two dramas – Pronto Gaga by Niḍāl Quwayqa and Hallo veut dire bonjour by Ṭarīq Bāša was chosen by the project Dramaturgie Arabe Contemporaine launched as a part of play of the theatre festival in Avignon.

The aim of this French cultural project was above all to promote Arabic drama outside the borders of the Arab world.