Malalai – the Afghan Maid of Orléans

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).