No identity or nationality… Moroccan theater needs the paradox of the “Arab shell”

Theater director Amine Boudriga said, “Moroccan theater is considered one of the first theaters on the Arab level and excels wherever it goes, but we now need to reach more important festivals in other countries in order to break out of the shell of Arab theatre,” considering that “theater has a universal language; He has no identity or nationality.”

Boudriga added, in an interview with the journalist Bilal Marmid within the program “Confrontation – FBM”, that “we must discover the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, with the support of those responsible for cultural affairs in Morocco, because it is not possible for a theater group to go to international festivals with its own capabilities. “Although at least in the beginning, before being able to go autonomously.”

He considered that Moroccan theater “needs a lot of efforts to advance it, especially given that public support is considered the only source for theatrical artists to carry out their work, as most theatricians wait until the period of granting support to present their theatrical projects.”

The director himself recalled in this context that “this support has been granted since 1999, that is, for a period of 25 years,” before continuing: “Now, it is time to find another way to support theatrical works,” highlighting the example of Egypt, in which “support coming from private investments is dominated.” On public support, which is considered auxiliary only.”

Regarding his transition to directing, the scenography specialist said that “it was natural because I am inclined towards directing, and I prefer to work on a script and scenography and direct my works myself, because I have already seen the show in my imagination, in addition to the fact that the lack of financial resources prevents the presence of an integrated team for this.” tasks,” indicating that this matter (having an integrated team) is “a hoped-for goal.”

Regarding the participation of the two plays “Once upon a Time Al-Tanoura”, which won the Creativity Award at the African Theater Festival in Rabat, and “Shams”, which won the “Silver Tanit” award for the 24th session of the Carthage Theater Days, in dealing with feminist topics, Boudriga said that this “came only by coincidence within one year, and this is not the case.” This means that our approach is to work on women’s issues.” He added: “I am interested in topics that receive interaction and I do not tend towards dead topics.”

He denied that he did not work on topics about Moroccan heritage, and attributed his downplaying of that to “laziness in this aspect,” noting that he spent many years during his academic training abroad, “and therefore it is necessary for me to be influenced by my surroundings, and yet I work on mixing modern and heritage topics.” “In the context of shedding light on societal problems in Morocco and globally.”