The Smooth Life won a prize in Valise

Husam Abed, Jordanian puppeteer who studied at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts, was granted a distinction for original artistic concept of presenting “The Smooth Life” by The Dafa Puppet Theatre at 28th International Theatrical Festival Valise in Poland.

The Smooth Life is a solo documentary, puppet and storytelling performance for eight spectators. Stories and situations from family life of Palestinian man born and raised in Baqa’a refugee camp in Jordan performed and directed according to his own history. With loud and whispered words accompanied by photos, videos and maps and good old storytelling. At the table, art connects with life and creation mixed with realism. Using the rice in the performance as a material and object adds a metaphor represents the Palestinian refugees scattered in the diaspora away from their occupied villages and towns by the state of Zionist occupation.

In January 2015, The Smooth Life was selected to participate at 28th International Theatrical Festival Valise in Poland, which took place between 10–13 June, out of 110 applicants representing 40 countries. The festival is organized by The Puppet and Actor Theatre in Lomza in Poland where 15 performances took part in the official competition were representing these participating countries: Argentina, Italy, Germany, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Singapore, Japan, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Greece and Jordan. The Jury granted a distinction to Husam Abed for original artistic concept of presenting “The Smooth Life” by The Dafa Puppet theatre at 28th International Theatrical Festival Valise in Poland.

The Smooth Life was produced by the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in Czech Republic. The creative team included: Husam Abed: concept, performing and directing, Réka Deak: stage design, Marek Turošik: Dramaturge, Music: Folk and Tareq Al Jundi, Artistic consultancy: Jiří Havelka, Marek Bečka and Robert Smolík.

In June and July this year, the performance will take part at festivals in Norway: 20th International Theatre Festival Porsgrunn and at Open Air festival in Hradec Králové and Chrudim Puppet Festival in Czech Republic where 22 performances will be delivered. Moreover, the company has performed 43 times in the last year and this year since the premier, which took place on 24 May 2014 at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Since the founding of Dafa Puppet theatre in 2009, it focused its work on the Palestinian refugee camps and Iraqis and Syrian refugees’ communities too in Jordan. During the past years, the theatre toured to the camps and villages, and for the first time in Jordan performed for adults and children too. The strategic plan of Dafa focuses to work between Amman and Prague, through projects aimed in immigrants and refugees’ communities, minorities and underprivileged areas, by the use of tools and techniques of theatre and puppet theatre, to reach the children and the youth, empower them to vocalize themselves and to use the artistic tools to reach their communities.

-ha-, 23. 6. 2015

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