Photo © Victoriano Moreno

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'Layla and Majnun' is a beautiful ancient Arabic story by the Persian writer Nizami about the insane love of the young poet Qays for Layla. The history of Layla and Majnun is one of the most cherished in the Islamic world, living on in legends, tales, poems, songs, and epics from the Caucasus to Africa and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. 'Forbidden Loves' starts from this story.

 

Ayham Alafshari, Midiea Cheraghan, Roxette Chikua, Daniel Djissenou, Romeo Lothy, Timur Magomedgadzhiev, Ester Van Elewijck, Tom Viaene, Somalia Williamson and Yasir Hazim, 10 artZ artists, each tackle the story of Layla & majnun. They present their own work in a surprising assemblage of dance, theatre, visual arts and video.  

 

Following the corona lockdown, all works were filmed in the slaughterhouse site in Antwerp North and shown in September 2020 on the Babelbühne!

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CONCEPTS Ayham Alafshari, Midiea Cheraghan, Roxette Chikua, Daniel Djissenou, Romeo Lothy, Timur Magomedgadzhiev, Ester Van Elewijck, Tom Viaene and Somalia Williamson  

 

PLAYERS Gloria Abena Biney, Yasir Hazim, Roelie De Jaeger, Mohamed Diakité, Asma El Nasire, Sim Heyrman, Tamayo Okano, Alissa van de Brande, Gwendolin Van Jole, Flor Verwilt

 

COACHING Duraid Abbas Ghaieb, Tijen Lawton and Greet Vissers

DESIGN  Steven Brys and Amber De Saeger

TECHNIQUE Steven Brys and Louai Hashem

MUSIC Alec De Bruyn 

PRODUCTION Freija Bosmans 

INTERNSHIP Bess Van Oevelen 

FINAL DIRECTION Greet Vissers

 

With the support of the City of Antwerp & the Flemish Government. Thanks to the Babelbühne and Rooftoptiger. With the proceeds of the Warmest Week 2018.