Oh my sweet Land
Corinne Jaber & Amir Nizar Zuabi
Oh my sweet Land
Corinne Jaber & Amir Nizar Zuabi
Ground beef – two kilos, onions – 1 kilo, bulgur – 500 grams, pine nuts – 300 grams, one and a half liters of cooking oil and large amounts of authentic testimony from Syrian refugees – there you have the ingredients of “Oh my sweet Land”. The creators Amir Nizar Zuabi and Corinne Jaber let it all simmer in an hour’s monologue that shifts between tragic life stories and razor sharp observations. While she portrays the life of a refugee woman in Jordan, Lebanon and Paris, she cooks. The fragrance of onions slowly caramelizing in a frying pan fills the kitchen with memories of a lost home. When her Arabic dish Kebbeh is ready, the desperate tale is also at an end – and no one has an appetite any longer.
Corinne Jaber’s father fled from Syria many years ago and eventually wound up in Germany. When the first revolution and the immediately following civil war broke out in 2011, Corinne wanted to better understand her background and to give a voice to the millions of people who, once again, were forced to flee. She traveled in 2013 to a number of refugee camps in Lebanon and, together with Amir Nizar Zaubi, to Jordan to gather testimonials. They never dreamt that the play that resulted from their research would still be relevant in 2024, more than a decade later.
Oh my sweet Land is a documentary report that attempts to give the Syrian conflict a human dimension. This monologue is an example of how artistic performance can breathe life into news events, moving them from media headlines into our hearts.
Corinne Jaber is a prize-winning actor, director and writer who has performed in several international theatre contexts. At one point she worked in a Shakespeare project with Afghan actors in Kabul that resulted in a production of The Comedy of Errors at The Globe Theatre in London. She is also a film-maker. Amir Nizar Zuabi is a prize-winning Palestinian dramatist and director who has, among his many projects, worked with The Royal Shakespeare Company in London and written the highly successful play The Ravine for The Stockholm City Theatre. He is also the founder and artistic director of the theatre company Shibur Hur in Palestine.
By: Corinne Jaber
On stage: Corinne Jaber
Text: Amir Nizar Zuabi i samarbete med Corinne Jaber
Directed by: Amir Nizar Zuabi
Light: Nicolas Chorier
”Oh my sweet Land” will be performed in English without subtitles.
Artist Talk
August 27, at 20-20.30 / Lilla scen, Göteborgs Stadsteater
After the performance on August 27, there will be an Artist talk with Corinne Jaber.
Conversation leader: Nilo Zamiri
Language: English