Fostering the cult of homosexuality and its ambiguity, Montmartre always fascinated me with its theatres and cabaret, its surroundings, the streets of Pigalle and the showcases of all the sex shops.
Coming from a conservative background, this sense of freedom and danger was at the same time exciting and scary. Hustling the pedestrians, prostitutes, drag queens, lesbians, gays, and queers filled Paname popular streets with their presence and obvious loneliness. These night callers landed us their joyful energy behind their sad voices and showed the world their brave nature despite being scapegoats.
Photo credit: Randa Mirza
This scenery that I almost forgot about after leaving behind 10 years of Paris 9 years ago, was all revived in me, like a resurrection moment at the studio of Zoukak where Junaid Sarieddeen , Maya Zbib, and Lamia Abi Azar gave a full-hearted intense performance of the jokers.
Three beautiful filthy proxies shine with their broken being, one is a transvestite, a trigger to transphobia in a society where each gender is defined by rigid rules and masculinity is proved in every gesture and feature. The second character is a woman by birth and a man by her own definition while the third is a disfigured rejected child who is now a pregnant woman whose fruit of the womb is a bastard with a sealed and doomed fate.
How can you not sympathize with these outcast characters whose fragile identity make you want to get up from your seat and just hug them pouring all your empathy and love?
The show is highlighted by out of the order guitar of Khodor Ellaik, the creepy stage that gives you the chill in your deepest core, extravagant costumes designed by Mahmood Al Safi and beautiful makeup from the artist, Mohamed Reda who dazzled us with its glitter and glamour.
The actors stripped their soul and guts in front of the public, the flesh was shown in the most beautiful artistic way, no vulgarity just beautiful round full skins that make your intellect incredibly horny.
The director and dramaturge, Omar Abi Azar proved once more his ability to dissect all layers of society in the rawest way.
“We wanted to create a space for marginalized people that society has put aside for a long time. This play represents these rejects who don’t belong anywhere. We wanted to show the world their pain and shame”, explained the theatre director, writer, and performer, founding member of Zoukak, Maya Zbib.
Adding that they intentionally simplified the characters and made them less complex so that the message can be accessible to all parts of society.
Photo credit: Randa Mirza
Asking Junaid if, after these years, he still has a stage fright before any performance, the actor replied that his anxiety is aroused because the responsibility is bigger, now that the audience has higher expectations. Nevertheless, he insisted that their shows are not built up around the viewers’ projections but rather on their own self and needs.
He added that in Lebanon, the public is constantly different due to the fact that the Lebanese youth is in constant motion. Concluding that the whole idea of “The jokers” is concentrated around the idea of how we are accepting one another. “There are different prototypes in societies whether they are intellectual, racial or sexual and those who are the most fragile are treated as scapegoats starting from their families to governments who use them for political gain.
Christiane Waked is a former Press Attaché of the French Embassy to the UAE (2010-2015) also worked as linguist and analyst in the French Interior Ministry (2005-2008)
