No Man's Land

“No Man’s Land” – 1980’s Moroccan national award winning play predicts the current (so-called) “Arab Spring” and reveals crucial lessons.

Artists need to be heard. With the first anniversary of the “Arab Spring” also comes the death of leader and international inspiration, Václav Havel – the poet-playwright hero of the 1989 “velvet revolution” in Czechoslovakia. As various groups —foreign and domestic: principally political, religious, corporate, and military— vie for power in the still-unfolding “Arab Spring”, Havel’s death at this moment serves as a poignant reminder that we should be paying closer attention to performative powers and artists.

A case in point is Mohammed Kaouti and his 1983 play, “No Man’s Land”. It sheds light on foundational (though unflattering) chapters of Moroccan political history, reveals crucial lessons for today and tomorrow, and predicts the regions’ current public reform movements (know in Morocco as the “Mouvement du 20 Février” – “Movement of February 20”).

Diving discursively, rather than prescriptively, “No Man’s Land” shrewdly highlights the seemingly irreconcilable struggles, conflicting aspirations, and complex socio-political realities of postcolonial Morocco. Set in a prison cell, it describes the dilemmas through a series of interactions between “X” (a captive “every-man”/ “every-woman”), the chorus of faces (the citizenry), and the chorus of masks (the power centers). It presses the timeless question all individuals/groups must answer: will I/we rise up for what’s just? And what are the consequences of not doing so?

Kaouti was the featured honoree at the June 2012 Arab Spring-focused conference “Performing Transformations” – the 8th Annual Tangier International Conference hosted by the International Centre for Performance Studies (ICPS) – Tangier, Morocco.

“No Man’s Land” was produced by a collaborative US American/Moroccan research team: Khalid Amine, Analysis and Editor; Mohammed Kaouti, Author; El Harruchi Mohamed Yassin, Translator – Arabic to English; and George F Roberson, Publisher and Project Director.

“No Man’s Land” is now available for the first time in this Arabic to English translation.

“One of the most important plays in the Moroccan artistic repertoire following independence”, says Khalid Amine, Professor, Université Abdelmalek Essaadi and President, International Centre for Performance Studies (ICPS) – Tangier, Morocco

A product of Morocco's traditional “open space” for debate –the theatre, “No Man's Land” foregrounds and predicts the so-called Arab Spring, or as it is known in Morocco, the “Mouvement du 20 Février”. It shrewdly highlights the seemingly irreconcilable struggles, conflicting aspirations, and complex socio-political realities of postcolonial Morocco. As various groups vie for power in the still-unfolding “Arab Spring”, Kaouti’s No Man’s Land reminds us that we ought to be paying closer attention to artists, the voices of “insiders” and to performative powers. –George F Roberson, Editor, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Mohammed Kaouti is an independent artist, affiliated with the International Centre for Performance Studies (ICPS) – Tangier, Morocco. Born August 12, 1952, he lives and works in Casablanca. He’s been involved in professional cultural and artistic activities in Morocco since 1973.

Eclectic in his creative approaches, he’s worked and flourished in a variety of venues and media including: teacher for twelve years; dramatic author with 13 public productions; writer with premier communications agencies (i.e. Havas Maroc, Saatchi & Saatchi, FP7 McCann, Klem Euro RSCG, etc); designer, animator, and television producer (21 programs); and executive producer of film and television (three short 35mm films and a television movie).

He’s also participated in numerous theatre and performance research and exchange initiatives including: the seminar “le corps et le théâtre” organized by l’Institut National de l’Education Populaire de Marly le Roi in France (1981); the seminar “Paris - Théâtre” jointly organized by the Universities of Paris and London, held in Paris (1982); and presented his plays “No Man’s Land” in Lisbon (2009) and “The Ring” in Munich (2010) with the Arab Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR).

He’s also served in leadership and managerial roles including: Founding Member and past General Secretary of the Général du Syndicat National des Professionnels du Théâtre; Manager of the Société de Communication & Production et de Groupe de Presse; and President, la Mutuelle Nationale des Artistes.