Algerian Play “Roman Carnival” Critiques Art World Exploitation at Carthage Festival
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The third day of the 26th Carthage Theatre Days (JTC) showcased a range of theatrical productions, underscoring the festival’s role as a premier platform for Arab and international stage art.
The day’s lineup featured compelling performances from across the region, including:
- Algeria’s “Roman Carnival”: A sharp critique of class struggle and capitalist exploitation within the art world, drawing parallels between modern artists and gladiators in ancient Rome.
- Saudi Arabia’s “The Secret of the Sculpture”: A metaphorical piece using live sculptures to explore themes of human fragility, artistry, and alienation from a harsh external world.
- Spain’s “André et Dorine”: An internationally acclaimed, wordless performance by Kulunka Teatro that uses masks and physical theatre to tell the poignant story of an elderly couple navigating Alzheimer’s disease.
The diverse programming highlights the festival’s commitment to presenting works that tackle universal human experiences through varied artistic lenses, from stark social realism to poetic visual metaphor.
Algerian Play “Roman Carnival” Critiques Art World Exploitation at Carthage Festival
Algerian director Mouni Boualem’s “Roman Carnival,” competing in the official selection of the Carthage Theatre Days (JTC), presents a stark critique of class struggle and capitalist oppression within the art world.
The play draws a direct parallel between ancient Roman gladiators, who fought for meager rewards to entertain the nobility, and contemporary artists. It centers on a theater run by an omnipotent, opportunistic director who exploits his cast and crew. The actors and technicians represent the marginalized, fighting for artistic scraps while the director, like a feudal lord, profits from their labor.
The narrative follows Margit, a formerly celebrated actress who emerges from a decade of isolation to take a role where her character dies. She symbolizes the crushed artistic conscience in a system that favors easily manipulated talent over genuine creators.
Through a minimalist set, a blend of classical Arabic and Algerian dialect, and a mix of tragedy and satire, “Roman Carnival” is a call to resist oppressive norms and seize artistic freedom.
Saudi Arabia’s “The Secret of the Sculpture” Explores Human Fragility
Representing Saudi Arabia at the festival, “The Secret of the Sculpture,” directed by Moaz Al-Refai, is a metaphorical piece set in a sculptor’s workshop.
The story unfolds in a closed, dramatic space where a sculptor, alienated by a harsh and “colorless” outside world, pours his soul into his work. His three sculptures—carved with his own unfulfilled dreams and lost relationships—miraculously come to life. They converse about their existence, desires, and the outside world they have never seen, serving as a reflection on human fragility.
The play relies heavily on physical acting and movement to bring the inanimate sculptures to life. With a simple set and evocative lighting and music, it creates a dreamlike atmosphere. The central metaphor reveals the “secret”: humanity itself can be as fragile as stone, having ceded its agency and become sculpted by external forces.
Spanish Play “André et Dorine” Moves JTC Audience with Silent Story of Love and Memory
The Spanish troupe Kulunka Teatro presented their internationally acclaimed play, “André et Dorine,” at the Municipal Theatre of Tunis as part of the 26th Carthage Theatre Days (JTC).
The 80-minute performance, directed by Iñaki Rikarte, tells the universal story of an elderly couple, André and Dorine, whose monotonous life is upended when Dorine develops Alzheimer’s disease. As André cares for her, he is forced to remember their shared past, from first love to raising a child, and finds himself falling in love with his wife all over again.
Staged without a single spoken word, the play’s power derives from the actors’ precise physical storytelling and the use of expressive masks. The silent performance, conveyed through gesture, music, and symbolism, evoked both laughter and tears from the captivated audience.
Since its 2010 debut, “André et Dorine” has been performed in over 30 countries, using the lens of memory loss to pay a poignant tribute to love, life, and the tragic poetry of an ordinary existence.
TunisianMonitorOnline (Douha Essaafi-JTC)
