{"id":4221,"date":"2024-05-08T16:55:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T14:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/?p=4221"},"modified":"2024-05-12T22:37:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T20:37:06","slug":"salam-aleikum-medea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/salam-aleikum-medea\/","title":{"rendered":"SALAM ALAIKUM, MEDEA"},"content":{"rendered":"

AWARDED THE 2013 EXIL PRIZE FOR DRAMATIC WRITING<\/span><\/p>\n

Performed in 2014 as readers theater at the Wiener Wortst\u00e4tten, with Tania Golden as Medea<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe author Susanne Ayoub transfers the Medea theme to the present day, thus unfurling anew the problem of war and violence and the confrontation of the private pursuit of happiness with political pressures. The text is distinguished by the Arabic poetry translated by the author, which contrasts with the otherwise modern colloquial language while giving an unsentimental glimpse into Medea\u2019s emotional world.\u201d (from the jury\u2019s statement)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Excerpt from SALAM ALAIKUM, MEDEA:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. MEDEA\u2019S LULLABY FOR HER CHILDREN. \u2013 Part 1<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Medea
    \nWe lived in a white house with a garden full of flowers, date palms, cherry and apricot trees, and roses and lilies and angel\u2019s trumpets. My mother Mona, my father Adel, my sisters Rima and Rana, my brother Hussein. I was the best at school, and I went to university. Later I was supposed to take over our father\u2019s business, the fine big pharmacy in the city center under the arcades.<\/p>\n

    We did not listen to the speeches. We watched Hollywood movies. My mother loved Robert Redford and Richard Gere, while my father raved about Kim Basinger. We hated the military parades and the birthday revelries and the anniversary of the coup d\u2019\u00e9tat. We detested \u201cHim.\u201d<\/p>\n

    We were a happy family. Politics did not concern us. That\u2019s what we thought, but we were wrong. Then the war concerned us all. The war destroyed the lives of invaders and victims alike. Too much blood was shed. The culpability is too enormous. And yet from this, love came forth. Jason and Medea, meant for each other. You are the children of that love.<\/p>\n

    This is the only hope for peace, for our future: children without enemies, for whom the horrors of the past are merely a legend, and those who were murdered only photos in an album.<\/p>\n

    MUSIC\u2014slowly drowned out and swallowed up by the noise of the windstorm.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. NIGHT. DREAM.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Jason comes home. Medea awakes and sits up. The storm is howling. <\/em><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. OUTDOORS.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Night in the wasteland. The khamsin is blowing, carrying with it the sand from the desert. A storm that shrouds everything. <\/em><\/p>\n

        Medea and Jason lie in an embrace. The sand is blowing over them. It covers them up more and more, until nothing more can be seen of them. <\/em><\/p>\n

        Voiceover (Medea):<\/em><\/p>\n

        We were poisoned by love
        \nYou my shield
        \nI your blanket
        \nWe wandered upon the road
        \nOf moonlight
        \nIn our dream
        \nJoy danced along ahead of us
        \nWe laughed as we ran
        \nAway
        \nFrom our shadows.<\/p>\n

        (from Al Atlal \u2013 The Ruins by Oum Kalthum, adapted by S.A.)<\/p>\n

        The voiceover breaks off abruptly when the key turns in the apartment door. The door opens, then slams shut.<\/em><\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. APARTMENT<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Medea is lying in the dark bedroom. Jason enters and lies down. Medea turns on the light. <\/em><\/p>\n

          Jason (startled<\/em>)
          \nWhy aren\u2019t you asleep? It\u2019s late.<\/p>\n

          She reaches her hand out to him, caresses his neck. He turns away so that she cannot touch him. <\/em><\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nIt\u2019s late.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nI still need to talk to you.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nNot at this hour.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nYou weren\u2019t here earlier. Jason, it\u2019s about our children. That must mean something to you, even if I \u2026<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nI\u2019m tired.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nTired of me. I\u2019ve felt it for a long time now.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nMedea \u2026<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nYou\u2019re not denying it.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \n(hesitating<\/em>) I don\u2019t deny it.<\/p>\n

          He turns toward her, takes her hand, and squeezes it affectionately. <\/em><\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nWe will talk, about everything. I promise. But calmly. Not in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \n(pulling her hand back)<\/em> Calmly. Reasonably. Unemotionally. I\u2019ve heard that so many times before. Lies! Lies! Lies! You have feelings too, your heart pounds like mine does, you feel fear and joy. But not for my sake. You have another woman, and I\u2019m supposed to keep still and accept it, so you don\u2019t have a bad conscience.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \n(laughing)<\/em>\u00a0Your German is fantastic when you put your back into it, impeccable. I have no idea why you always complain about being a foreigner here. You can cuss like a local housewife. (scrutinizing her)<\/em>\u00a0In Baghdad you wouldn\u2019t have put on such a scene for your husband. You only dare to do it here, where you lead a life of equal rights as a woman.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nEqual rights! You\u2019re twisting the truth, Jason. That\u2019s not what we\u2019re talking about, it\u2019s your infidelity! You\u2019re trying to avoid the issue. You\u2019ve always avoided the issue.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nI am so sick and tired of these eternal accusations, and you\u2019re poking around in the past.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nUnfortunately, that\u2019s all I\u2019ve got. My husband leaves me at home with the children and goes out to have himself a good time.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nIt\u2019s four in the morning. I want to sleep.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nAnd you come home at four a.m., without an explanation. And I\u2019m supposed to put up with that? I won\u2019t put up with it, Jason!<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nWhat else are you going to do? You\u2019re not going to change me. I\u2019m not letting you put me on a leash. That was back when I felt weak, and I stupidly let you help me. I\u2019m not about to do penance for it my whole life.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nYour whole life. My life. You are my life\u2014that\u2019s what you said. That is a promise, and you cannot break it.\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nI can\u2019t? Oh, yes, I can.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nAren\u2019t you afraid?<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nAre you trying to threaten me? (laughing at her)<\/em> Your magic tricks aren\u2019t going to work here. You\u2019ve landed in the civilized world, where science and reason count for something. Not to mention laws. So, just keep it up. I don\u2019t like your dark insinuations.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nIt\u2019s you who\u2019ve flouted the laws! You abandoned your unit because you were too cowardly to fight. You hid behind my skirts. I concealed you, even though my father would have killed me. And you too, if he\u2019d found out about it.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nI came in pretty handy for you. You didn\u2019t resist. You wanted me. That\u2019s true, isn\u2019t it? You couldn\u2019t get enough of me.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nThat sounds so ugly coming from your mouth. I was defenseless against love. I still am.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nNo, not love. There can be no more talk of love with us. Even little Doro gets that. A marriage like that makes no sense, is what he says.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nYou\u2019re putting words in his mouth. How can a little kid understand marriage?<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nEven a child can tell when there\u2019s no love anymore.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nAnd that\u2019s what you wanted to tell me in the light of day, without emotions?<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nYes.<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nMay I say something about that too?<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nThis night is almost over. But you don\u2019t care about that, do you?<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nLet\u2019s get out of this place.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nWhere to? Back there again? Aren\u2019t you happy you escaped that?<\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nIt\u2019s a big world. We can get back together, Jason.<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nMaybe. But we don\u2019t have to leave to do that. We\u2019ve been around enough already. Our history follows us wherever we go.<\/p>\n

          Medea approaches him and puts her arms around him<\/em><\/p>\n

          Medea
          \nYou do want to give it a try? Jason! Jason, is that really so?<\/p>\n

          Jason
          \nLet\u2019s get some sleep. Let\u2019s sleep on it one more time, Medea.<\/p>\n

          He takes her in his arms, and they lie down. He turns out the light.<\/em><\/p>\n

          Translation Geoffrey Howes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

          \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          AWARDED THE 2013 EXIL PRIZE FOR DRAMATIC WRITING Performed in 2014 as readers theater at the Wiener Wortst\u00e4tten, with Tania Golden as Medea \u201cThe author Susanne Ayoub transfers the Medea theme to the present day, thus unfurling anew the problem of war and violence and the confrontation of the private pursuit of happiness with political … Continue reading “SALAM ALAIKUM, MEDEA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4221"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4275,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4221\/revisions\/4275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanneayoub.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}