Ammon News - By Thameen Kheetan

AMMAN - Plays, concerts, parades, poetry recitals, films and art exhibitions featuring local and international artists will take place in Amman as part of a 10-day festival starting on Saturday.

The capital’s theatres, workshops, galleries and streets will witness simultaneous events where artists will “go crazy” as they present their work to the public, organisers of the 16th Amman International Theatre Festival said on Monday.

Co-organised by Al Fawanees Theatre Troupe, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and the Ministry of Culture, the festival includes special events for music, visual art and poetry, in addition to theatrical performances and musical plays.

“The creativity of the human brain comes from craziness and illogical things. If art were logical, it wouldn’t be creative,” artist Nader Imran from Al Fawanees troupe told reporters in a press conference at GAM headquarters to announce the festival programme.

The festival will open on Saturday evening with an official ceremony and a parade from Amman’s Interior Ministry Circle to the Royal Cultural Centre (RCC), featuring the Jordan Armed Forces band, and performances by a GAM troupe and Australian street artist Benny-B.

Also Saturday, Belgian theatre group Arcinolether will present a at the RCC titled: “Au commencement était le verbe/ Lebanon Project - mouvement 2”, which is also being held as part of celebrations marking the International Day of La Francophonie in Jordan.

On Sunday at noon, another parade will tour the Jabal Luweibdeh neighbourhood, starting from Paris Square and heading towards the Culture Ministry’s arts department, where its yard will be turned into a café to gather the city’s artists.

Several sketch comedians, music bands, folk troupes and actors will take part in the Luweibdeh parade, which will also include face painting, a book exhibition, visual arts and decorated vehicles, according to a Ministry of Culture statement.

Dozens of plays will be staged in Amman’s theatres, in addition to the King Abdullah II Cultural Centre in Zarqa, Imran said, adding that the participating countries include Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, the UAE, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Spain, Kosovo and the US.

Artists from Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia will also join around 30 peers in a one-week Balita 1 workshop at the RCC.

Workshop organiser and artist Mohammad Amiri said the number of Jordanians taking part in Balita 1 will be equal to the number of foreigners to “shed light” on Jordanians working in this field.

“I have noticed that the image of Jordanian artists outside the country is pale,” Amiri told reporters.

Also as part of the festival, four concerts will take place, with this year’s theme being “oriental music”, according to Jordanian oud player Tareq Al Jundi, who will hold a solo performance at Al Hussein Cultural Centre in Ras Al Ain on April 1.

The two following nights will witness performances by Syria’s Seventh String Band and Female Oriental Takht, respectively, Jundi added. An oriental takht is a collection of instruments from the near east such as qanoun, oud, flute (or mizmar), simismieh, riqq, tableh and daff.

Despite the “oriental” theme, these three concerts will be preceded by a Croatian performance by Mali-b troupe “so that there will be more diversity and awareness of good music”, Jundi said.

In addition, 12 Arab poets will recite some of their work over four successive nights, while various films will be screened on the sidelines of the festival, organisers said.

Shima Tal, director of cultural programmes at GAM, voiced the municipality’s intention to turn the theatre festival into an independent foundation in the coming years to ensure the event’s “sustainability” in light of existing financial challenges.

(Jordan Times)