A treat for theatre lovers in Fez. This Friday, French/Moroccan playwright and actor, Mohamed El Khatib, will perform his play "finir en beauté" (finish off) at the French Institute of Fez. The play has previously toured the country
Mohamed El Khatib took two years to to write the text, which is derived from interviews with his mother who died on February 20, 2012.
In this play, Mohamed El Khatib, alone on stage, tells the real story of the last days of his mother, her past suffering with liver cancer and the long moments of separation that followed and created painful moments in the author's life.
On the hospital bed, his mother asks: "No operation or anything? - No nothing. They can not do anything."
The interior fragmentation of the now orphaned son is presented as a discontinuous narrative, drawing on a variety of sources: from newspapers, sent and received emails, phone messages, sms, and scraps of exchanges with his father.
The material delivers snapshots of life evoking fragments of memory, of family, country, native language, memory and mourning. Despite the central theme the work, is also caustic and, at times, funny, accompanied by black humour, comic scenes, involving stories and trips between Morocco and France.
The the author reacts to his grief by refusing the idea of mourning and saying "death does not make stronger, on the contrary, it weakens."
For Mohamed El Khatib, death has created a deep gap in his life. He said the death will never be synonymous with acceptance of fate, resignation and reconciliation with the past. Yet, it has given him a gift which he can now share with the audience.
The performance is on Friday, March 11th, 19h, at Dar Batha. Entry is free but subject to availability.
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