Ninar Esber and Joséphine de Weck in the play “Les rêves qui devvorent la rivière” by Souhaib Ayoub. (Credit: Bulat Arslanov)
The initial idea was "to bring art into this neighborhood of the hospital ... this home of childhood and adolescence," explained Dr. Noémie Cuissart de Grelle, medical officer in charge of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at Geneva University Hospitals. In his production entitled "Les rêves qui devvorent la rivière" ("Dreams that devour the river") — in which the Fondation Convergences played a part — novelist and playwright Souhaib Ayoub once again materialized his zany fantasies, in a temporal and spatial confusion where the contours of reality, the self and life become blurred into a disconcerting in-between space.
"First it's one voice. Then another. Then a third, invisible, from elsewhere ... What remains is the ancient clamor, the mad banquet of the enlightened, the seated and the mourners; the world of the living and the dead ... of the sick and the healthy, of chimeras and apparent realities [that] form one and the same wound, that on certain evenings under the moon, between dog and wolf, it is no longer possible to distinguish," analyzed writer Philippe Roisse in an introductory text to the play, which will be performed on Sept. 20 at the Geneva hospital's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit.
Ayoub wrote this play in Arabic and French, during an artistic residency at the psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. "I was able to talk to the young people, their parents and the nursing staff, and I reworked these stories, adding those of this particular neighborhood. This was the site of a center for lepers, and in the Middle Ages, a place where witches were burned. This rich narrative fed my play," explained the playwright.
In the background, he wanted to make the boundaries between the closed space of the psychiatric hospital and the neighborhood less watertight. "At 8 p.m., instead of closing the doors, we'll open them to the public, free of charge, so that they can discover the play. The text is literary and poetic, and two spaces meet, those of death and reverie. I was inspired by stories I heard from patients, such as that of a mother who killed her children. There's also an echo effect between the character and myself, as we both have a grandmother from Latakia,” added the Tripolitan artist.
'I like to make the dead speak'
On stage, two women, played by Joséphine de Weck and Ninar Esber, are supported by a voice-over and a soundtrack by Maxime Daviaud. His highly contemporary musical creation blends flamenco, electro and screams.
"Everything takes place in a dead woman's room, in a hospital, in that moment between death and the afterlife. On stage, the two women are more or less the same person, embodying death and double-death and showing that we are a mixture of stories. As in my books, I like to make the dead speak. Esber embodies the woman who is going to look at death differently; it seems dense but ends up appearing lighter, more tender. She invites the other woman to accept death, by putting it in her shroud," added the author of "Rajol Min Satin" ("The Satan Man," Hachette Antoine, 2018), who appreciates the work of fabric in his writing. On stage, a split monologue expresses what we tend to put aside, through dreams and death, in a choreography orchestrated by Maria Ribot (known as La Ribot).
Esber and Ayoub met at the Villa Empain in Brussels, during a tribute to Etel Adnan in May 2022. "We became friends, and I really appreciate his work, especially her novels. Performing in his play in Geneva allows me to reconnect with my past, as I've acted in two films, one with a Tunisian director, the other with Maroun Bagdadi. In the 90s, I played the supporting role in the play Julia Domna, by Chérif Khaznadar and Françoise Gründ, with Mireille Maalouf. It's the story of a Syrian princess who married Septimius Severus," explained Esber, who began specializing in performance art in the 2000s.
In "Les rêves qui devvorent la rivière," the binary of the female roles is not based on contrasts. "We each embody an aspect and its opposite, we speak of intimacy in a game of ping-pong where solitude and the difficulty of confronting existence are heard. Deep down, this woman is a prisoner of herself, and elusive, which leaves a great deal of freedom to the actresses and the spectator," continued Esber.
She admitted that she sometimes recognizes Ayoub in his words. "In certain passages, I see him, I hear him, with his experience, his exile, his love of poetry, and that's very moving for me. The project is supported by a highly competent team, and by the passion and desire of all those involved. What we'd really like is to be able to perform this play in Lebanon,” concluded the actress.
Fans of Ayoub's wacky universe can rest assured that "Les rêves qui devvorent la rivière" is the first in a trilogy. The second part will be staged in a Catalan monastery in 2025. The playwright is already working with the actress who will play his character, a former Catalan butcher.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour; English version edited by Yara Malka.
