UR
"UR's segments flow in dreamlike succession, interweaving devastations both ancient and modern. This simple and elegant production achieves both intimacy and cohesion."
About.
UR, 2015–18
Running time, 90 minutes
Performed in English and Arabic
Co-producers: Residenztheater, Munich;
The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (AFAC); SABAB Theatre.
Inspired by the ancient Sumerian tablet, The Lamentation for the Destruction of the City of Ur, the first lamentation written for a city in the history of mankind. Evoking multiple timelines that stretch from 2000 BC to the ISIS destruction of Palmyra in 2015 and a utopian vision of a Middle East of the future, UR presents a riot of imagination and archeology exploring themes of iconoclasm, civic space and feminine apotheosis. First developed on the ancient island of Failaka, the play marks Al Bassam's first collaboration with German and Arab diaspora actors.
On the creative process
UR (2015-18), the first work in the Icarus Cycle, was inspired by the ancient Sumerian text: A Lamentation for the Destruction of the City of Ur, composed circa 2000 BC. This seminal poem, contained today in the Louvre Museum in Paris, is the first poem written in memory of a destroyed civic entity -a city - in the history of mankind.
UR began its life through a writing workshop on the ancient island of Failaka in the Arabian Gulf. Further research was conducted by Al Bassam at The British Library in London and through extensive conversations with leading field specialists, like Beatrice Andre-Salvini, Director of Oriental Antiquities at the Louvre Museum (2006-2015).
Research phases led to the composition of a new dramatic play text. By using the ancient Sumerian text to address contemporary issues, notably the vicious civil war in Syria, Al Bassam creates a kind of dramatic prism in which a series of interlinked scenes unfold across multiple historical timelines stretching from 2000 BC to the European Imperialist fantasies of the late 19th Century and from ISIS' destruction of Palmyra in 2015 to a distorted Utopian vision of Mosul in 2035.
UR, published in English and Arabic by Oberon Modern Plays, presents a riot of imagination and poetic archaeology that explores themes of iconoclasm, civic space and contesting visions of colonialism.
The new text moved into production development through a second series of workshops with stage actors and musicians. These phases of work were supported by global partner institutions: The Columbia University Global Center, in Paris; Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah, in Kuwait; The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (A.F.A.C.).
UR was produced in 2018 by the National Theatre of Bavaria, Das Rezidenstheater, in Munich, premiering with a mixed cast of Arab and German actors, performing in repertory during the 2018/19 season.
