Love or influence? Habibi or the violence of the couple

23 May 2022

The Pitoëff Theatre welcomes the Apsara company and its latest show, Habibi. The story of a woman locked in a relationship with a violent man she does not dare to leave. A powerful play, almost in huis-clos, to be seen until June 5th

She (Nedra Toumi) - we don't know her name - is a woman like so many others: in love, probably a little gullible, but above all under the influence of a man. He (Roberto Molo) is a man like too many others: violent, unable to manage his jealousy, manipulative - in spite of himself? - an unbearable situation that has become commonplace. For a little over an hour, we watch helplessly as the relationship in which she is trapped evolves, and from which nothing and no one can help her get out…

Fear that goes to ground

Habibi is above all a show about fear. The one that drives this woman and insidiously rises in her, year after year. In order to understand this rise, Silvia Barreiros' text is built in several stages. It all starts, on stage, with an argument. Without us really knowing what triggered it, we understand that the man becomes violent. He looks for his belt to hit his wife, after an evening when she would have ignored him. This is the setting. Flashbacks then take us back to the beginning of the relationship, from the meeting to the magic of the first few months, filled with romance... then the birth of Marc (Mourad Dridi), their child, who we see a few years later being bullied by his father because he dances and "a man shouldn't dance, it's women who dance". Until Marc decides to leave the family home, no longer able to bear the attitude of his castrating father. She, on the other hand, will stay on, until the end... This is strangely reminiscent of the stages described in Montrer les Dents (translator’s note: show at the Grütli Theatre in Geneva, May 10th to 22nd 2022).

With each moment of life that we are shown, we feel like shouting at her to go away, to help her even, if need be. But we are, alas, only spectators of the situation. And we are not alone in our powerlessness. Neither the neighbours, who pretend not to hear anything - although, she says, if the music had been too loud they would have been the first to react... Nor the presence of the son, for it is undoubtedly for him that she stays, perhaps to spare him. And once he's gone, you might ask? That's when the husband's brother (Bel Ghazi) and his wife (Latifa Djerbi) intervene. The former, while not as violent as his elder brother, still dominates the couple. And his wife accepts this, fatalistically, because if she keeps quiet, at least she will stay. Abject, isn't it? Let us note all the same that this couple will bring the necessary touch of humour, which prevents us from falling into a total disgust of human beings...

A highly symbolic show

Beyond what is said and shown, which is sometimes difficult to bear, we will remember the symbolic dimension of the staging and the text by Silvia Barreiros. Starting with the title of the show, Habibi: this Arabic word means someone you love, someone you cherish. It is above all an affectionate term. Here, although it is affectionate at the beginning, it surreptitiously becomes a way of concealing the name of this woman, which we will not know as long as she remains locked up in this toxic relationship. She also remains closeted on the stage: she is the only one who never leaves it during the whole show. A way of telling us that she cannot get out of this relationship, to the point of staying locked up in her flat... It is only a short step from there to resonate with Une Femme Seule, recently performed at the Alchimic theatre by Latifa Djerbi.

This show is thus part of a particularly topical movement that is finding an important resonance on the stages of French-speaking Switzerland: the fight against patriarchy and an ancestral system of domination that is too often accepted out of fatality. The presence of the belt, which the man will search for throughout the show after his wife has hidden it, is the strongest symbol of this. Passed down from father to son for generations, it is the means of submission favoured by the men in this family, who are simply reproducing patterns in which humanity no longer has a place... The sister-in-law, already mentioned, is an unwilling accomplice in this system which she accepts in order to survive. Finally, we must also mention the presence of a bathtub on the stage. It is this woman's place of refuge, where she can relax, escape from it all for a few moments. At least until her husband intrudes on this intimate space...

Habibi is a show about things you feel you already know: relationships that have become commonplace, but are not. Relationships that should no longer exist, and yet... Through this show, from which one comes out with a feeling of unease, even shame: as a man, it is unthinkable to me to act like this towards another human being, to belittle them like this - whether it is the wife or the son - and to manipulate them to such an extent. Yet there are many more people - of whichever gender - who do this than we think. Habibi reminds us that the only way out of this is to act, to not close our eyes, to act, before it is too late...

Fabien Imhof


Practical information:

Habibi, by Silvia Barreiros, May 19th to June 5th 2022 at the Pitoëff Theatre (Geneva).

Director: Silvia Barreiros

Cast: Nedra Toumi, Roberto Molo, Latifa Djerbi, Djamel Bel Ghazi and Mourad Dridi.

https://www.apsaras.ch/index/activity

Photos: Ester Paredes

Fabien Imhof: Holder of a Masters Degree in Litterature, he is one of the co-founders of La Pépinière. Responsible for parterships with theatres, he will make you travel through the plays and scenographies of the region.