The Factory
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11 Aug20:00First performancePACT Zollverein, Essen
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12 Aug–18 Aug20:00 – 21:45PerformancePACT Zollverein, Essen
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15 Aug–18 Aug20:00 – 21:45PerformancePACT Zollverein, Essen
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16 Aug20:00PerformancePACT Zollverein, Essen
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17 Aug20:00PerformancePACT Zollverein, Essen
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18 Aug20:00PerformancePACT Zollverein, Essen
A cement manufacturer opened a cement factory in northern Syria in 2010. The factory is one of the largest foreign investments ever made there. However, a revolution against Assad's totalitarian regime breaks out a few months after it opens, and soon afterwards the destabilized country plunges into a brutal civil- and devastating proxy war. The owners and their business partners insist that the factory must carry on working – whatever the cost.
Initially the region was under the control of the Syrian army. However, in the summer of 2012 parts of it are taken over by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) while the Free Syrian Army (FSA) controls the others. At the end of 2013 IS establishes complete control over the area. In the factory, production continues. A commonplace accident ultimately leads to more profound awareness in this story of a complex network of beneficiaries of war and dirty businessmen.
Following the success of their two most recent performances While I was Waiting and Iphigenie, the playwright Mohammad Al Attar and Syrian director Omar Abusaada continue to present their views on the immense upheavals that have struck their homeland. The world stage premiere at PACT Zollverein in Essen will be produced in collaboration with a group of Syrian actors. This is theatre as an attempt to deconstruct one of the most vicious aspects of war: the alliance of money and power.
BIOGRAPHIES
Further Information
Introduction 45 minutes prior to show
Artist talk 12th of August after the performance
A commission to Mohammad Al Attar and Omar Abusaada. A coproduction of Volksbühne Berlin with the Ruhrtriennale.
Language information: In Arabic Language with German and English Surtitles.
Cast
| Director | Omar Abusaada |
|---|---|
| Text | Mohammad Al Attar |
| Stage Design, Costume | Bissane Al Charif |
| Video Editing and Compositing | Rami Farah Samer Ajouri |
| Light Design | Denise Potratz |
| Assistant Director | Amer Okdeh |
| Masks Design | Mohamad Omran |
| German Translation | Sandra Hetzl |
| With | Lina Murad Ramzi Choukair Saad Al Ghefari Mustafa Kur |
| And | Saleh Katbeh |
| Surtitles | Sprachspiel |