Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah - Das Banu Hilal Epos | THEATER DER WELT

In the organizer's words:

Fascinating epic, enchanting song: an epic narrative tradition from the Arab world. Music, poetry and heroic history in the here and now.

Mighty warhorses glide through the air with elegant ease, gigantic birds circle over bushes, marching like an army through the bizarrely beautiful North African mountain landscape. Music, singing and captivatingly rhythmic chanted text passages in Arabic drive the advancing troops.
With just seven players, the Palestinian author and director Bashar Murkus sets a lively and colorful big world theater in motion. With Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah, the small and resolute Khashabi Theater from Haifa brings a great epic to the stage. For the artists, this rediscovery is an essential part of their contemporary work on Arab theater art.
Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah tells the story of the migration of the Banū Hilāl Bedouins from the Arabian Peninsula to Tunisia in North Africa. Of the many characters, the only ones worth mentioning here are Abu Zayd al Hilali, an outcast nobleman and leader on the long journey, and Al-Jaziyya, an influential woman who acts as a political and moral compass for the group. For the culturally very different and territorially broad Arab folk traditions, it is the only epic that is still performed at weddings or private celebrations in its original musical form, accompanied by the spiked violin Rabab or a percussion instrument.
The new interpretation, which crosses all the boundaries of theater, is bursting with physicality and breathtaking images. The mixture of concert, visual performance, theater and dance is like a cheerful, lively carnival with live electronic music. Dance, large puppets, shadow plays and changing backgrounds, created by light and color, provide a contemporary, entertaining translation of the material.
Khulood Basel and Bashar Murkus founded the Khashabi Theatre in Haifa in 2015 together with a group of Palestinian theater makers. Khashabi Theatre is an independent Palestinian theater that advocates for a Palestinian society in which art and creativity can be practiced freely as a fundamental right. At the same time, it strives to renew cultural identity by placing independent culture at the center.

Venue: Spinnbau - large stage
Introduction: 30 minutes before the start of each performance
Duration: 3 h
Information: In Arabic with German and English surtitles

All further information at: https://www.theaterderwelt.de/programm/

A festival of the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute e.V.
Organized by Chemnitz Theatres, the Festival Academy Brussels and the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH.

Price information:

Tickets at: theaterderwelt.de/al-sirah-al-hilaliyyah | 35% discount with festival pass. More information at: theaterderwelt.de/service/tickets