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Mawda means affection

Marie-Aurore D’Awans & Pauline Beugnies / KVS
Thu 30.09.2021 - Fri 26.05.2023
30.09.2021
-
26.05.2023

“We want to tell the story of Mawda and her family. Not to bring justice, because that is not our role, but to do justice to the humanity that was taken from them. They are not ‘transmigrants’, but Prhast, Shamdin and Hama. She was Mawda.”

This performance tells the story of Mawda (مه ودا ), the little girl who was killed by a Belgian police bullet in May of 2018. A tragedy brought to the stage, to make sure it is not dismissed as some inconsequential accident. 

Mawda Shamdin Ali was two years old. She was in a van that was supposed to take her to England, along with her parents, her little brother and about twenty other people. On a Belgian motorway, the police started a manhunt. A police officer fired a bullet. The bullet hit Mawda in the head. She died. Her parents and her brother were put in jail.

Prhast and Shamdin are from Iraqi Kurdistan. They had to flee because they weren’t allowed to get married. They fled because they love each other.

For over two years, theatre creator and actor Marie-Aurore d'Awans and filmmaker-journalist Pauline Beugnies, together with KVS dramaturge Kristin Rogghe, have been collecting material from reality (through interviews, attending the trial, ...), and they are in dialogue with Mawda's parents to create this performance.

“We want to tell this story. The love story of the parents, a Kurdish Romeo and Juliet. The story of her big brother, forever marked by this drama. The story of a life in exile. But we also want to understand how this drama could have happened. In what political context? And how do our media deal with it? How is it that a drama that should feed the public debate about migration policy is ultimately reduced to a fait divers?”

"Any resemblance to actual persons or events is not purely coincidental."

Extra

30.09.2021 > 08.10.2021 DOCUMENTARY MOVIE The Way Back via 247.kvs.be 

30.09.2021 > 08.10.2021 EXPO Les écorchées douces by Sabine Sil

02.10.2021 MEETINGS (NL-FR-EN) with experts, artists and activists

06.10.2021 - AFTERTALK (NL) with dramaturge Kristin Rogghe + some of the actors + Daniel Alliët & Karen Naessens (Begijnhofkerk/House of Compassion)

07.10.2021 - AFTERTALK (FR) with directors Marie-Aurore D'Awans and Pauline Beugnies + some of the actors

08.10.2021 CONCERT after the performance by Hussein Rassim, Juliette Lacroix and Saif Al-Qaissy 

Mawda parcours

For over two years, theatre creator and actor Marie-Aurore d'Awans and filmmaker-journalist Pauline Beugnies, together with KVS dramaturge Kristin Rogghe, have been collecting material from reality (t…
« Une formidable distribution bilingue rend terriblement vivante cette démonstration engagée. »
Le Soir
“Ze maken het onzichtbare zichtbaar, het vergeten herinneringswaardig. Dat alles is wat toneel kan toevoegen aan drama.”
E-tcetera
« La pièce s’ouvre sur une boule à facettes et un poème kurde mis en musique par Malena Sardi, une légèreté qui n’a pas sa place dans la vie de cette famille ballotée de pays en pays. »
L'Echo
« Les metteuses en scène Marie-Aurore D’Awans et Pauline Beugnies cherchent moins à transcen- der leur sujet qu’à le rendre dans ses soubasse- ments les plus injustes sans jamais jouer la carte du pathos qu’un tel désastre peut susciter. »
L'Echo
« Des collines lointaines au JT d'ici, de l'asphalte couvert de sang aux salles d'audience, le spectacle offre un autre regard, centré sur l'humain, sans s'interdire l'humour, pour qu'on tire les leçons, à tous les niveaux, de la mort d'une petite Wlle qui n'aurait jamais dû se produire. »
Le Vif/L’Express

Credits

VAN / DE / BY Marie-Aurore D’Awans & Pauline Beugnies MET / AVEC / WITH Mostafa Benkerroum, Aicha Cissé, Mieke De Groote, Thierry Hellin, Deborah Rouach, Leopold Terlinden, Melodie Valemberg, Sayf & Zakaria Hamdard (afwisselend / en alternance / in alternation) DRAMATURGIE / DRAMATURGY Kristin Rogghe ASSISTENTE DRAMATURGIE / ASSISTENT DRAMATURGY Lieselore Remans CO-AUTEURS / CO-AUTHORS Victoire de Changy, Maud Vanhauwaert MUZIEK / MUSIQUE / MUSIC Malena Sardi SCENOGRAFIE / SCÉNOGRAPHIE / SCENOGRAPHY Zoé Tenret ADVIES SCENOGRAFIE/ CONSEIL À LA SCÉNOGRAPHIE / SCENOGRAPHY ADVICE Eugenio Szwarcer VIDEOGRAFIE / VIDEOGRAPHIE / VIDEOGRAPHY Tristan Galand, Thibaud Decoene LICHTONTWERP / CONCEPTION LUMIÈRE / LIGHTING DESIGN Pier Gallen, Ralf Nonn ONDERZOEK / RECHERCHE / RESEARCH Marleen Adriaensens, Hussein Ali, Mesut Alp, Saif Al-Qaissy, Camille Crucifix, Nyira Hens, Ismaïl L’hamiti, Purni Morell, Sophie Sénécault, Joeri Smet, Frances Timberlake, Hussein Rassim, Christian Roe, Sasker Van de Ven KOSTUUMONTWERP / CONCEPTION COSTUMES / COSTUME DESIGN KOSTUUMONTWERP / STYLISME / STYLING Elise Abraham PRODUCTIELEIDER / CHARGÉE DE PRODUCTION / PRODUCTION MANAGER Ella De Gregoriis, Nadia El Mahi TECHNISCHE PRODUCTIE & TONEELMEESTER / PRODUCTION TECHNIQUE & REGIE DE PLATEAU / TECHNICAL PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGER Ivan Fox, Davy Deschepper, Bram Moriau TECHNIEK / TECHNIQUE Pier Gallen, Ralf Nonn (licht/lumières/lighting), Justine Hautenauve (assistente licht/lumières/lighting), Bram Moriau (geluid/son/sound), Thibaud Decoene (video) KLEEDSTER / COSTUMIÈRE / DRESSER Elise Abraham, Heidi Ehrhart BOVENTITELING / SURTITRAGE / SURTITLING Inge Floré VERTALING /TRADUCTION / TRANSLATION Claire Tarring (FR/ENG), Alex Stockman (FR/NL), Anne Vanderschueren (NL/FR), Khanda Hussein (SORANI/FR), Fakhri Snawbar (SORANI/NL) PRODUCTIE / PRODUCTION KVS COPRODUCTIE / COPRODUCTION Perpodium, Mars, Mons arts de la scène, Le Rideau de Bruxelles, Maison de la Culture de Tournai/Maison de Création MET DE STEUN VAN / AVEC L'AIDE DE / WITH THE SUPPORT OF Théâtre de Doms (Avignon), la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles - Service Générale de la Création Artistique - Direction du Théâtre, Tax Shelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid via Cronos Invest