Message from the World Theatre Day 2023 of Samiha AYOUB
To all my friends of theatre artists from the entire world,
I write this message on the occasion of World Theatre Day and, even though I am very happy to address you, every fiber of my being debuts in the face of the burden we all carry-theatre artists and not only-that of the overwhelming pressures and contradictory feelings that raise the state of the world in actuality. Instability is the direct result of what our world confronts in terms of conflicts, of wars and of natural disasters that will see devastating effects not only on our material world, but also on the spiritual and on our psychological peace.
Today I address you with the feeling that the whole world has become an immense sea of isolated islands or ships merging into cloudy horizons, each of them unfurling their candles and navigating without references, not seeing anything ahead to be able to guide. Despite this, we continue to sail, in the hope of reaching a safe haven that accompanies us after long wanderings in the middle of a noisy sea.
We have never been as closely connected to each other as they are nowadays, but in the same way, the world as we know it has never been so dissonant, moving away from each other. It is here that lies the dramatic paradox that the contemporary world imposes on us. Despite all that we live in terms of the convergence of circulation of information and modern forms of communication that have won all geographical boundaries, the conflicts and tensions to which the world watches crossed the boundaries of logical perceiving and created, in the midst of that apparent convergence, a fundamental divergence that departs us from the true essence of humanity in its most elemental form.
The theatre, in its original essence, boils down to a purely human act based on the true essence of humanity, which is life. In the words of the great pioneer Konstantin Stanislavsky, " Never enter the theatre with mud on the feet. Leave all the dust and sujity out there. That they stay at the door the petty worries, conflicts, small difficulties with the street clothes-all those things that spoil your lives and disregarded the attention of your art-that stand at the door. " As soon as we rise to the stage, we do so with the only life there is in us, the one that exists in a single human being. But that life has an enormous capacity to divide, reproduce and transform into many lives, which we digest for this world, to germinate, to flourish and spread its perfumes over others.
What we do in the world of theatre, be it as dramaturgs, enactors, actors, centerers, poets, musicians, choreographers and technicians, all without exception, it is always an act of creating a life that did not exist until that moment in which we invoked it on scene. This life deserves a benevolent hand that holds it, a passionate lap that embraces it, a kindred heart that sympathised with it and a lucid spirit that provides it with the reason it needs to continue to live.
Don't exaggerate by saying that what we do on scene is the very act of life generated from the nothing, like an incandescent embers that cintila in the dark, illuminating the darkness of the night and warming up its coldness. We are the one who gives the life its splendour. We are the one who impersonates her in flesh and blood. We are the one who makes it vibrant and gives it meaning. And we are the one who gives you the reasons to understand it. We are the ones who use the light of art to face the darkness of ignorance and extremism. We are the one who embraces the doctrine of life, so that life can flow in this world. To do so, we employ our efforts, our time, our sweat, our tears, our blood and our nerves, all that we must do to take this noble message, defending the values of truth, good and beauty, sincerely believing that life deserves to be lived.
Dirijo me today not to speak, not even to celebrate, the father of all the arts, the "theatre", on his World Day. Instead, I invite you to stand up all together, holding hands and shoulder to shoulder, to shout loud, as it is customary to do on the stages of our theatres, and to let go of our words to awakening the consciousness of the whole world, to find in ourselves the lost essence of Humanity. From the free, tolerant, loving, likeable, docile and prescriptive man.
And able to reject this vile image of brutality, of racism, of bloody conflicts, of forms of single thought and extremism. Human beings have walked on this earth and under this sky for thousands of years, and will continue to do so.
So get your feet out of the mud of wars and bloody conflicts, and leave it to the scene entrance. It may be that our humanity, which has become doubtful, comes back one day to be a categorical certainty that will make us feel proud to be human and to be all brothers and sisters in humanity. It is our mission, it is up to us playwrights, bearers of the torch that illuminates from the first appearance of the first actor on the first stage, being at the forefront of confrontation with all that is ugly, bloody and inhumane. We confront this with everything is beautiful, pure and human. It is us, and no one else, who has the ability to spread life.
Spalhemo-la together, in the name of one world and one Humanity alone.
Samiha Ayoub
