Moroccan newspaper | The play “Secret Gardens” by Muhammad al-Hurr from Morocco as part of the Carthage Theatrical day: In the battle of generations and the battle of ideas, art wins for man

He creates his creative, critical world, puts his society in front of the mirror of truth, turns the dispersion of societies and the conflict of generations into a stage, to rewrite a special view.

And different from the existing one, he seriously cuts his theater paths, contradicts reality and represents the idea of ​​change. That’s how theater is for the Moroccan director Mohamed Al-Horr.. Free space for renewal.
Philosophical theatrical presentation presented in the play “Hadayek al-Asrar”, directed by Muhammad al-Hur, represented by Yassin Ahjam, Hajar Hamidi and Jalila al-Tilmisani, within the official competition of the twenty-third session of the Carthage Theatrical Day.
Experimentation with the aim of innovating viewing and content
“Secret Gardens” is a work that does not flirt or flatter, but speaks directly to the heart and mind.
“Hadayek al-Asrar” is the name of the work, and the title is the first threshold in the theater for entering the world of the play and trying to understand it and break down its dramatic and artistic parts, as well as human messages. always refers to the color black, to the story hidden in the corridors of memory and recesses of the heart. Asrar usually refers to psychological pain and the burden of concealing it on the heart and soul. Threshold questions and tell him that he will not compliment or flirt, but thinking and confusion will be his fate.
The stage is devoid of many decorations, only on the left is a statue of a man’s head that shines above it, and on the right is a group of leaves, including a lamp for lighting. As for the middle square, it is completely empty, as if it is the emptiness of the human soul at the moment it hurts. The light spreads throughout the space, maybe through it the director wants to expose the story and reveal all the secrets.
Then a voice rises and says, “What you hear now is my voice, and what you see now inside that light space is me. You can enter and not feel my presence. That is, I am a voice without a face, without a name .. Name it does not matter. When a person is expelled from paradise, the first punishment will be the loss of his name.” Liquid voice Out of the darkness is the voice of the director, with a little concentration we discover his presence at the far right of the stage, lighting the “consultation” with a candle that goes out at the end of the play.
The director will be part of the dramatic game, performing with his voice in the middle of the play, contributing to lighting the lights and changing part of the decor Plastic music dominated by the element of silence and slow rhythm in the context of perfection and difference from traditional theater, because Mohamed Al-Horr is a director who in his works seeks for a new and different perception from the prevailing one.
Dispersion of the family and the hypocrisy of society is the main theme of the work
Lighting divides the space of the play, defining it as the author of the text defines ideas and characters. Two figures appear on the scene, the body of a woman and a man, who move without noise. There is no spoken text, but it is shown on the screen behind the stage. They are a man and a woman, the silence between them is a sign of alienation. They are rarely employed at work.
The man screams loudly (sound of sound) and the woman cuts her arteries more than once without dying. A third voice says: “I know this picture a lot, it has been repeated many times.” Then the “door of the wind” opens, and the music becomes powerful in harmony with the sound of the wind, leaves fly and scatter, stories and secrets begin to be revealed, and the winds here spring from the “fan” of the machine placed on the stage. Experimentation in the work includes almost all elements of scenography .
A woman and a man, a couple joined and separated, connected by a marriage contract and separated spiritually and physically, each of them is a victim of a rich and conservative society, each of them is a victim of the marriage of “capital, not being. ” Al-Hur reveals in his play that the man in Arab societies is also a victim, because he suffers, like the woman, because of family injustice, psychological pain and lack of love. A woman’s suffering has its justifications. Either the man himself causes his pain, or he is an accomplice in the crime, as the events of the play tell, which begin at the end, and its embodiment is represented by actors who have experienced the stage and know the capacity of the theater to change.
The lighting disperses, its colors change, the back gray door opens, and with it the accompanying musical rhythm changes, so that the viewer finds himself in front of the dispersal of the family, the collapse of the idea of ​​unity among the members of the same family, a dispersal that is not expressed by a spoken text but by a long silence , with turbulent steps and busy mouth movements, the distraction of the Mother about her daughter and her forcing her to marry a man she doesn’t want. Here, old wounds are opened and the same tragedy reappears on the surface of events, as if Arab societies were ruled by customs and rule, and love was condemned to death by Qais’ night madness and “The word I love you rusts in the mouth if we have not found anyone to say it.
Generations differ, ideas clash, systems change, and the Arab family still clings to its tradition of marrying girls. The family revolution is led by actors on stage. A call to change mentality, for the victory of love and individual choice in the face of power and reactionary tradition. The character of the girl in the drama is rebellious, looking for herself and her independence, and rejects the idea of ​​a traditional marriage. She wants to marry the one her heart chooses. “My life is free in it. I decide when the story ends.”
The girl’s rebellion opens the drawers of her mother’s memory and places her before the mirror of herself to ask herself: “Why did I not possess her boldness? What strength did she instill in her, a submissive mother and a dead soul?” Why were you silent when they decided to marry me?” These questions are opened in a self-dialogue with oneself, and the girl’s rebellion against the family is synonymous with the rebellion of today’s youth against the old systems, and the desire for new and creations of the mind instead of accepting the existing one.