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Transnational theatre project by Julie Paucker and Robert Schuster
after Friedrich Schiller

Director Robert Schuster
Text & Dramaturgy Julie Paucker
Stage and costumes Eva-Maria Van Acker
Head of Movement Martin Gruber
Sound Design Max Bauer
Production Management Eric Nikodym
With Gulab Jan Bamik, Hadar Dimand, Said Edris Fakhri, Ahmad Nasir Formuli, Marcus Horn, Thaïs Lamothe, Céline Martin-Sisteron, Abdul Mahfoz Nejrabi, Jonas Schlagowsky, Romaric Séguin, Sulaiman Sohrab Salem, Homan Wesa

After two years of rejection and political struggle, the German embassy finally granted the Afghan theater group AZDAR the necessary visas for the long-awaited artistic collaboration between the European players of the KULA company and the players from Afghanistan. Together they created material that corresponded to this encounter. Malalai of Maiwand, the Afghan Maid of Orleans, was a medic in Afghanistan's war of independence against the British colonial power in 1880. When the Afghans lost their last hope and fled, Malalai untied her veil, turned it into a flag, and ran towards the enemy. Malalai became the epitome of female agency. The Afghan myth, the French legend of Joan of Arc and the German drama by Schiller are at the center of this tri-national project. Both stories are instrumentalized by feminist forces on the one hand and nationalist and religious fundamentalist forces on the other. In the mythically and politically charged intersection of these female icons of freedom and warriors of God, Israeli, French, German, Belgian and Swiss artists meet, each performing in their mother tongue.

Performances Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar - Kunstfest (GER), Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen (GER), Theater Chur (CH), Schauspiel Bochum (GER), Akademie der Künste - Berlin (GER)

Production Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (GER), KULA Compagnie,
Weimar Art Festival (GER)

Co-production Schauspielhaus Bochum (GER), Kurtheater Baden (CH), Stadttheater Chur (CH), AZA Nizi Mama (FR), AZDAR Theatre (AF) Supported by JTN - Jeune Théâtre National (FR), Kulturstiftung des Bundes (GER), Friends of the DNT (GER), Goethe-Institut (GER), Institut Français - Berlin & Erfurt (GER).

The production conveys a message. We people in Europe should listen to other people in other parts of the world, experience their stories, learn to understand them [...]. Theater play and contemporary history merge on stage [...] This is a theater evening of a different kind.

Michael Plote, Free Word, 8/30/2017

No less than three actresses from France and Israel embody Johanna with all the senses and fibers of their bodies; in her fragility, her doubts, her courage, her indomitable will and the certainty of her death. [...]

DPA / Antje Lauschner, 26.08.2017 (among others on Zeit online, Stuttgarter Nachrichten online, thüringen24.de, Märkische Online Zeitung, Schweriner Volkszeitung online)

[...] a shining hour of transnational theater work. [...] the French and the Afghan legends merge, Joan of Arc and Malalai become one and yet assert their different identities. [...]

FRANK QUILITZSCH, TA / TLZ, 8/28/2017

 [...] a total of three Joans [...] who pervade the story as finely fractured figures of light. [...] Whenever the Afghan echo chamber opens up, Schuster's production clearly gains power. [...] a depth unlike anywhere else.

Nachtkritik.de, 8/26/2017 - Michael Laages

Malalai is an internationalist, multilingual spectacle. (...) Credit to the entire ensemble for this significant performance.

Neues Deutschland, 30.08.2017, Stefan Amzoll