Yan Duyvendak, Omar Ghayatt and Nicole Borgeat |
Switzerland, Egypt


Scenic fragments of the Orient and Occident
The recent upsurge of revolutionary democratic movements in North Africa and the Middle East remind us just how little knowledge, and yet how much prejudice, we have towards the Islamic cultures of such countries. The common notions of the West collide with the realities of the East. But in Made in Paradise it is not two cultures that meet, but two people. Yan Duyvendak, a naturalised citizen of Switzerland, and the Egyptian Omar Ghayatt have developed a series of small scenes and stories, based on the stereotypes and pervasive clichés about Orient and Occident. These are presented to the audience, who then vote on which scenes they would like to see. The audience choose, for example, between “9/11“, the most popular piece to date, and a mysterious “Trip to Alexandria" or "Jihad Beauté“. Each performance has a unique sequence and is always only a part of the whole. Omar and Yan play and act amongst the audience. Through scenes, which are subtle, surprising and often caustic, Omar and Yan engage in a constant search for a true sense of co-existence and come to the conclusion: those who are willing to deal with the unknown, run the danger of being confronted with themselves.

www.duyvendak.com

Made in Paradise will be presented in Berlin on the 19th October as part of the Niedersächsische Landesvertretung’s cultural programme inspektionen // integrationen.

With Yan Duyvendak, Omar Ghayatt Dramaturgy Nicole Borgeat Simultaneous translation Samy Ebeid Set collaboration Sylvie Kleiber Graphic design Nicolas Robel, B.u.L.b. grafix Production management Nataly Sugnaux Hernandez Administration Line Lanthemann Technician Gael Grivet Produced by Dreams Come True Genf in co-production with Théâtre de l’Arsenic Lausanne, Dampfzentrale Bern, GRÜ Genf La Bâtie-Festival de Genève
Supported by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, as part of the thematic focus Schweizer Formate (Swiss Formats)