How can we tell a story that is not ours? Or, should we, at all, tell somebody else's story? By trying to do so, Steve Karier (actor) and Anne Simon (director) find out they need to start somewhere else. Nahidh al-Ramadhani's The tale of (Hoo) should be the starting point of an evening under pressure – because they are not quite sure how to stage a monodrama, that would in fact need something like 60 performers, with one actor; because they do not know how much background information is needed (for them as well as the audience) in order to understand the Iraqi situation; ultimately because the performance will take place on the night of the football world cup finals and it should be finished by 8.30, so everyone can get to their screens. But they do not know how much time it will take to tell the story.
Actually, The tale of (Hoo) tells a story of evolution, and how evolution (also) means encountering limits, accepting borders. Karier and Simon try to transpose this idea by finding a performance form where the actor tries to challenge these limits (and gets lost), and the director (within the self-limiting traditions of our theatrical canon) sets rules and borders in order to help the actor and the audience understand. They start off with the idea of Theatre at war and discover Theatre at peace instead. An original sound recording of al-Ramadhani will complete this. The combination of all of these elements will hopefully lead to the closest we will get to the smallest common denominator, and, theatre (at peace).
What will be left in the end is the attempt to tell our story about the Iraqi playwright’s tale, thus getting as close to his attempts telling the story of his country (and fail).
Steve Karier is a prize-winning Luxembourgish actor and director. He has played numerous roles in theatre productions and films, and has recorded over 200 radio plays.
Anne Simon, born in 1982, is a young Luxembourg-based director. After her Drama and Theatre studies in London, she returned to work as a director's assistant and youth theatre practitioner at the National Theatre in Luxembourg. She has staged over ten plays/performances in different theatres in Luxembourg and Germany since.
