Robyn Orlin

This piece is the fruit of the first encounter between Robyn Orlin and the iconic South African company Garage Dance Ensemble. The latter practices dance theatre which is committed to equality and social justice. In the company of performers from the Northern Cape region, she brings us a no-holds-barred performance that questions the origins of social violence.

If, up until now, the performances of the South African artist have consisted of exposing himself onstage or in public spaces, in his latest piece Steven Cohen plays host to audiences from within the confines of an intimate, private space, the boudoir. The latter, a chapel or refuge, becomes a place in which he gathers up his memories of his past - as well as those of the last century, gruesome though they may be.

How do we go about presenting the adaptation of a famous film to the Lebanese authorities in charge of censorship? We come to realize that it is about a film which recounts the improbable encounter between two very dissimilar individuals both of whom are experiencing social alienation in fascist Italy in 1938. The adaptation is set in Beirut in 2007, shortly after an Israeli attack on Lebanon.