“What law of God have I broken?” Antigone asks in a monologue that decries the injustice that has befallen her. “Why should I still look to the gods in misery? Whom should I summon as an ally?” When 23-year-old Hiba voices Antigone’s words in Arabic, quivering, she has to pause a few times, while waiting for the tears to subside.
Hailing from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, Hiba is one of 24 women taking part in Aperta Productions’ latest endeavor, a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles’ “Antigone,” told through the eyes of women from Syria’s refugee community.
The Greek tragedian composed “Antigone” over 2,400 years ago, but the women in this production are no strangers to the heroine’s pain. The tale of a young woman who’s been sentenced to death simply for burying her disgraced brother resonates with many who, like Hiba, have lost brothers, fathers and sons in Syria’s ongoing civil war.
From the destruction of families to the meaning of citizenship and rebellion against authority (whatever form that may take) Sophocles’ text is rife with themes that reverberate with the Syrian people’s tragedy. This, according to Syrian stage director Omar Abou Saada, was a central reason for choosing the play as a basis for the project “Antigone of Syria.”
“We felt the story can still be very significant in our time,” he says, “because of the way it relates to the overall situation, with everything the women have been through and everything happening in Syria.”
For 58-year-old Fedwa who came to Lebanon more than two years ago, Antigone is a symbol of perseverance. “I admire her character, how she follows her convictions even at the expense of her life. I would’ve done the same, of course.”
The group’s production is largely based on Taha Hussein’s translation, further adapted by Syrian playwright Mohammad al-Attar. The challenge facing the actors and director lies in reforming Sophocles’ classic into a theater piece that blends the women’s stories with that of Antigone, and conveys them to the world.
Residents of the refugee camps of Sabra, Shatila and Burj al-Barajneh, the women in the cast have assembled regularly for the past few months for interactive theater workshops. Syrian actor Hala Omran trains them in voice and movement, while Saada and Attar lead them in two-hour group discussions.
To coax workshop participants to express their traumas, fears and aspirations, they discuss everything. The questions thrown about range from “What’s your horoscope?” to “Were you still in Raqqa when ISIS took over?”
The workshops will culminate this week in three public performances of “Antigone of Syria” at Hamra’s Masrah al-Madina. The final performance will be documented and available for online viewing.
“Throughout the course of our work, we’ve really got to know everyone,” Saada explains, “and so our vision of how to integrate their experiences into the different scenes of the play started to crystalize.”
Lodged somewhere between drama therapy and cultural production, “Antigone of Syria” provides a vehicle for empowerment, which Saada believes is rapidly and tangibly confirming the need for such projects.
“A lot has changed,” the director says decisively. “You can see it in the women’s self-confidence, their ability to express themselves, their relationship to their voices and their bodies, and their willingness to participate.”
The eldest woman in the group, Fedwa sees this process as having allowed her to connect with the person she used to be. Back in 2012, she brought her children to Lebanon for a weeklong visit and a change of scenery.
“We came without any of our belongings, just to see relatives,” she recounts. “Then the situation in Yarmouk, in all of Syria, got very bad, and nobody would let us go back.”
They remained in Beirut, at first in a two-bedroom apartment with 15 other people.
“By nature, I’ve always loved art, singing, dancing and joking around,” she says with a mischievous smile. “But I’ve been through a lot. When I first came here, I had just lost two of my sons and I was in a very bad place.
“Getting to work with the group brought out something that had been bottled up inside me for a long time.”
A mother of two, 31-year-old Wesam, who escaped from Syria with her family when the shelling got too close to their house, says the workshops have been an unexpected source of relief. “All of us here, we’re in the same boat and we can feel with each other’s pain. Somehow, hearing the other stories makes ours feel easier.”
For the actors, “Antigone of Syria” has created a platform to create and express a growing sense of community. For those outside this community, it will serve as a cultural document of the wounds the Syrian conflict has left upon its people – preserving the stories of women’s lives that would otherwise have been left to the flea market of history.
“Antigone of Syria” will commence a three-day run at Masrah al-Madina Nov. 27.
