Listen to the article
At the Monnot Theatre, Anjo Rihane is currently performing in Moujaddara Hamra, a play written and directed by Yahya Jaber. This bold play brings to stage stories of women from the south of Lebanon. Two new dates are available: July 18 and 25, 2023.
Anjo Rihane won the best actress award for the play Moujaddara Hamra. Alone on stage, she portrays various women with multiple facets. The woman who traveled to Paris, carved a future in publishing, and got divorced. Those who stayed rooted to their birthplace; the 43-year-old widow who dreams of starting her life anew after her husband’s death, and the faithful wife, a victim of domestic violence, who understands her husband’s mood swings. The actress gives voice to these almost silent women, submissive or falsely rebellious. Her body adopts their typical movements, and she engages tirelessly in a conversation with colorful characters. She speaks, jokes, dances, unties her hair, ties it up again, moves from one character to another, from one woman to another, in the course of a play or of memories barricaded in the past. She also raises questions about their future, going as far as their graves.
Moujaddara Hamra is built on an absorbing, comical canvas, enriched with traditions, punctuated by tragic moments set in a homely backdrop, one of those places where you gather for coffee or a life story. A surprising element in these life threads is how all of the women’s stories from our region resemble each other. Anjo Rihane’s ability to hold the stage alone, unerringly, for an hour and forty-five minutes leaves the audience dumbfounded. She masters her script, all the female characters she embodies, adopting each one’s quirks, their body movements, and their micro-facial expressions. She sketches their portraits and their stories, letting them converse among themselves, narrate their lives, and giving the audience the freedom to react, applaud, respond to her, as she interacts with them, inviting them to “play.”
Instagram: @mariechristine.tayah
