Playwright Fawaz reconsiders humanity

In his first theatrical appearance in Beirut, Belgian actor and writer of Lebanese origin, Roda Fawaz, addresses the story of the struggle of identity and belonging in exile, based on a personal experience “that every person finds himself in,” according to the artist who was discovered by his home country’s citizens through a televised message following the Beirut port explosion in 2020.

The Lebanese widely circulated, on social media, on that day, the touching message that Roda Fawaz delivered through a morning program broadcast by a Belgian TV station, in which he was presenting a segment, three days after the port explosion on August 4, 2020, which killed more than 220 people, injured thousands, and caused massive destruction in the Lebanese capital.

In his speech entitled “Being Lebanese,” Fawaz discussed the circumstances of receiving the news of the port explosion and touched on the suffering of the Lebanese, their adherence to hope, and their refusal to surrender.

From the stage of the Mono Theater, which has become a main focus of the theatrical movement in Beirut in recent years, Fawaz met the Lebanese audience this time face to face, and not through screens, through his play On The Road…A, which will continue to be shown until July 14.

This play, which was written by Fawaz about eight years ago and directed by Belgian Eric de Starck, has previously been performed in several theatres in Belgium, France and Switzerland over a period of four years.

The work deals with Fawaz’s exile in all the countries he belongs to. He is of Lebanese parents, was born in Morocco, grew up in Guinea, and settled in Belgium with his mother after his parents separated.

Fawaz describes his play as humane. “It reconsiders the humanity of each one of us in a world that has lost so much humanity,” the native of the southern Lebanese town of Joya told AFP before taking the stage. “It shows the stranger from a different point of view, with a lot of compassion.”

The play recalls “intimate, touching and funny artistic moments,” he said.

Alone on stage, Roda Fawaz, whose real name is Mohammed Reda Fawaz, narrates chapters of his life, stopping at stations that shaped his personality and exhausted him; such as his move from Guinea to Belgium, his experience at school, the way Belgian citizens viewed him as a dark-skinned Muslim boy, which prompted him to change his name, his frustrations as an actor, and his visits to Lebanon.

“No one else can tell my story, which is my own and I approach it in a special theatrical way,” says the 45-year-old playwright. “I talk about my mother, my father and my friends. But everyone finds themselves in it.”

“We are all strangers”

“We are all strangers to each other, and in the eyes of the other person, we are different,” he adds.

He sums up the atmosphere of the play by saying, “This play is about a person who, when he is in Belgium, is seen as an Arab, but when he is in an Arab country, he is considered a stranger.”

Fawaz does not only address the issue of roots, he says, but also religion. “I seek to go further through theatre.”

He believes that “identity is a complex mixture of many things, such as belonging to the land, roots, and acquired nationality.”

He continues: “This is what I express in the play. We are a mixture of many things, including upbringing, religion and friendship.”

The actor, who has Arab features, black hair and dark skin, says that he wrote this play in 2016 as a reaction “to what was happening in France regarding the issue of national identity.”

He explains: “I strive for my artistic work not to be based on anger. Feelings of anger exist; but we must not convey them as they are in a superficial way, but rather transform them into an artistic work so that they reach the audience.”

Fawaz recalls his message about the port explosion, saying: “I felt the sincere need to write these words. It was the last episode I would appear in. I called a friend and told him that I felt the need to talk (…) about the Beirut explosion, and he encouraged me. I don’t like to write when I’m emotional; I prefer to take my time.”

“There is something exceptional about Beirut that I don’t find anywhere else,” says Fawaz, who first visited Lebanon in 2004. “But when I’m outside, I see that life is tough in Beirut.”