Mahmoud Darwish: My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?

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Mar 17, 2014 Palestine
Mahmoud Darwish: My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Mahmoud Darwish: My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?

By : Sinan Antoon سنان انطون

While his readers were celebrating his birthday on the 13th of March, the authorities at the Riyad Book Fair confiscated Mahmoud Darwish’s books after members of the Committee for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue complained about “blasphemous passages.” One poem from his 1986 collection Fewer Roses was particularly infuriating as shown in this video. Here is a translation of the poem; a salute to the ever present Darwish and to the freedom of reading.

 

Mahmoud Darwish

My god why have you forsaken me?

 

My god, my god, why have you forsaken me? Why did you wed Mary?

Why did you promise the soldiers my only orchard, why? I am the widow.

I am the daughter of this quiet, I am the daughter of your neglected utterance

Why have you forsaken me my god. My god. . . Why did you wed Mary?

You were revealed in me as words. You brought down two people from a spike of grain, and you wed

me to an idea, so I obeyed. I fully obeyed your coming wisdom

Have you divorced me? Or have you gone to heal an other/my enemy from the guillotine?

Does one like me have the right to marry God and to ask him:

My god, my god, why have you forsaken me?

Why did you wed me, O my god, why? Why did you wed Mary?

 ***

[From Wardun Aqall (Fewer Roses) (1986). Translated from the Arabic by Sinan Antoon. You can read the Arabic here.]
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Oct 1, 2013 Lebanon
Medrar TV مدرار تي في By :
Medrar TV مدرار تي في

A Scenography Workshop by Hussein Baydoun

A Scenography workshop by Hussein Baydoun

8-16 September 2013

Falaki Theater, Cairo, Egypt

 

Hussein Baydoun is a Lebanese artist, architect, and scenographer who is known for his unique approach to set design. Baydoun frequently participates in the creation and development of performances from their early stages with the view that scenography is an essential component to the creation of theatrical work, one no less important than the script. His designs are often inspired by the performance spaces in which he works, where he creates fascinating sets from whatever is available as he challenges conventional notions about theater production, such as in his most recent performance "Alice," which was produced in collaboration with Lebanese playwright and director Sawsan Bou Khaled. In September, Baydoun returned to Cairo to lead a scenography workshop following the same vision. At the American University in Cairo`s Falaki Theater, he worked with six upcoming set designers, in addition to amateurs, on creating imaginative environments from the remnants of old sets and other discarded objects. This video highlights the vision and development of the workshop as Baydoun describes the aim of his teaching methods.  


 

      

     [This video is produced by Medrar TV and is featured as part of a new partnership with Jadaliyya Culture.]