Who would have thought you could produce a play about corruption in your country, and sell out all the seats for four months?
Well, a playwright did so in Damascus, Syria, poking fun at Syrian corruption and...
corrupt officials, and it is a hit.
Read the CBS News story below...
vj
April 30, 2010 1:00 AMPolitical Satire Rocks the Boat in Syria
This story was written by CBS News' George Baghdadi in Damascus and the LINK is HERE
A sharp political comedy is taking the Syrian capital by storm by pushing the envelop of acceptable government criticism to a point seldom scene on the stage in Arab countries. The play, entitled "Academic Corruption," mocks dirty politics, Syrian officials and Arab leaders alike.
All four months' performances of the play have sold out at the rickety Ramita Theater in downtown Damascus. Such politically inflammatory speech is rarely heard by the capital city's five million inhabitants, or their countrymen across Syria. It's not the first satire by 51-year-old actor and director Humam Hout, who has been on stage in the country for more than two decades, but it is without question his most daring.
The curtain rises on act one to reveal a ceremony for dozens of graduates from the "University of Corruption". "The bribe is not a shame - the one who doesn't take a bribe is an ass. This is the time for the intelligent people," boasts the narrator. Jibes like this, aimed clearly at the nation's leaders and others in the region, had only been heard as whispers for years. But such a joke, or a misplaced word, will no longer land them in jail. The play, performed by a mix of amateurs and professionals, catalogs corruption through the story of the inhabitants of a poor alley thrown into scandal after a building falls over, killing 47 people and wounding hundreds more.
Abu Jamal, a resident who has just lost his house in the collapse, approaches a TV correspondent. "I will tell you everything about all the thieves in the country, because my heart is filled with anger," he tells the reporter before a military intelligence agent strides in with a pistol in his hand.
Jamal changes his tone. "I seize the opportunity of the collapse of this building... to extend my thanks to the comrade and all the people in charge," he says before lavishing grand praise on the performance of the government. Hout says he had no trouble getting his show through the nation's censors.
The director says he wanted to rock the boat to send a "key message." "Corruption has become a disease that we should all fight. Everybody is responsible. We need to say it loud to find solutions for this detrimental phenomenon," he tells CBS News.
"It is comedy, the people enjoy it. Many officials came and laughed as if I was talking about bribery and sleaze in Mozambique, not here," Hout explains, noting that among his audience members have been the government Chief of Staff, the Deputy Prime Minister and many cabinet members. President Bashar Assad attended some of his previous plays and was said to have encouraged him to continue his work. Most of the laughs are about everyday life in this three-and-a-half-hour comedy. There's a skit about how the dreaded Mukhabarat -- the military intelligence service -- has penetrated every aspect of society, to the extent they know what people are eating at home. "This is a country where democracy is prevailing, every citizen should talk freely," an agent sporting a Hitler-like mustache tells one man during the play.
"But just bear in mind, my brother, that there are ten issues about which you cannot talk: the price increase of electricity, water, diesel, gas, private universities, private schools, food, long-term food items, internal transportation, and cellular phones -- apart from that, you are free to talk. Go ahead, citizen! Go ahead, go ahead, talk!" Some critics, however, say the government merely tolerates such shows to provide an outlet for Syrians to vent their frustration over the slow pace of reforms and the extensive corruption that damages the economy. The campaign against official corruption -- which years ago targeted a prime minister -- picked up again recently but at a slow speed. Last year, the head of the General Customs was put in jail for fraud and embezzlement. Human rights activists acknowledge that Syria is a much more relaxed country under Assad. Newspapers, banks, private schools and universities were established and hundreds of political prisoners have been released since he took over in 2000.
The playwright, Dr. Abduljawad al-Abed, a surgeon, says he wrote the play to help counter what he calls "internal pressures" against his country, emphasizing he never meant to write politics. "We are theater people, we don't engage in politics. I just wanted to say in the play that there is something wrong. This is out of love of my country," he tells CBS News. However, the last scene of the play is entirely political; aimed squarely at U.S. President Barack Obama. One of the characters played by Hout, Abu Yousseif, a poor guy who fixes the air-conditioning at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, is lured by two American staffers with aspirations of fame to stage their kidnapping in exchange for $100,000. The Americans tell Yousseif to contact the White House and make a bomb threat that he'll blow up the whole area unless his demands are met.
The character plays along and starts talking with the U.S. President live over the Internet. A large picture of Obama appears on a TV screen on the stage.
"This is Abu Youssei, the guy who fixes the air-conditioning," he says. "But I am not a terrorist, I swear to God I am not. There are no terrorists in my country. We are very friendly people who believe in God," he continues, throwing the check for the ransom money on the ground. "I don't know Osama bin Laden, nor his uncles or his aunts. But all of a sudden I have become a suspect, every single Muslim has become a suspect, and the war was started in Iraq, leaving two million widows and five million kids who lost their parents," he goes on.
The actor then moves to direct a harsh assault on most Arab leaders for supporting the Iraq war, mentioning by name the Egyptian, Palestinian and Libyan Presidents, who only cared about "preserving their rule." "I would like to tell you a secret, a grave secret; We have Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Aqsa and Kassam brigades, and as long as we are going to die anyway, it is far better to die in dignity, than in shame," he says to the applause of hundreds in the audience. "Here we have learnt the struggle, in Syria, the land of dignity, from Assad, the son of Assad, who refused to bow his head," he ends, trotting on to the stage carrying the country's flag to a standing ovation from his Syrian audience.
One of the theatergoers, a 21-year-old university student, said he had mixed feelings after the play. "It is very, very funny. I laughed a lot. But to tell you the truth, I felt sad as well about what is happening. I walk out with a black heart."
Comments