In the sweltering, humid Cairo heat last Friday, acclaimed director and playwright Roger Assaf was talking avidly to a rock in a captivating monologue. This is how new Lebanese theater production “The City of Mirrors” opened at Al Genaina Theater Friday night, as a part of Al Mawred Al Thaqafy’s ongoing Spring Festival.
This fringe performance is homage to Assaf’s close friend, the late Armenian/Palestinian/Lebanese artist Paul Guiragossian, known widely as “painter of the world’s poor.”
The protagonist of the play is Roger Assaf, posing as himself, a close companion of the intriguing painter.
Assaf eloquently intertwines two main themes in the production, the key inspiration, Paul Giragossian, and Jerusalem, aka ‘the city of mirrors;’ delving into the past of both the painter and the city.
The backdrop of the play is composed of a large, three-part screen showcasing Giragossian’s paintings, real footage from the occupied territories, as well as historical quotations and facts. Assaf brings to life the artistic past of this city, reminiscing about the times that cultural salons would bring artists like Om Kolthoum and Farid Al-Attrash to Jerusalem. The performance moves from the early 1900s all the way to present day, simultaneously chronicling Guiragossian’s life and the artistic evolution.
Assaf begins the play with the famous quote from Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question” while holding a rock and then uttering Descartes’ famous philosophical statement, “I think, therefore I am.” This statement sets him off on a monologue about the meaning of being, and the question of the rock’s being, regardless of its inability to think or perceive as we do.
Continuing this line of thought in an uncanny scene, Assaf fights with the rock, observing that whether he hits the rock or vice versa, he still hurts, at that moment, perplexed, he remarks, “As a human, either way, I am the one who hurts.” The line is accompanied with a picture on the screen of Palestinian youth throwing stones, leaving the audience to come up with various interpretations of the symbolism.
Entangled with this plotline is the fascinating life of Guiragossian, whose Armenian parents immigrated after the 1915 genocide and settled in Palestine where he was born in 1926. He eventually settled in Beirut with his wife and children and became known as a renowned Lebanese painter. Upon his death, he received a state funeral.
His artwork is well-known for its connectedness to the human condition. Guiragossian painted women often in his belief that “the mother is the greatest hero of the world,” a concept Assaf illustrates in the play. In the early years of his painting, many of his pieces featured one-legged figures, which proved to be a prophecy of his own calamity. Assaf quotes Guiragossian as saying that “art discovered me, not vice versa” and vividly describes to us how the painter lost his leg in an elevator accident years after the paintings of the one-legged figures.
Although “The City of Mirrors” appears to be a one-man show, Assaf is part of a large team.
Assaf is one of Lebanon’s most notable theater makers, known for his uniqueness and his avant-garde style.
He has a charismatic, graceful presence on stage. Watching him felt like sitting with an old friend sharing his bittersweet memories of old Jerusalem. As Assaf says, the city is unique because of the intimate relationship it has with its visitors; people from all over the world flock to Jerusalem because of its religious and artistic significance.
This production leaves you thinking and musing without falling under the trap of miserablism. Assaf and his team succeeded in recreating the atmosphere of the city as well as Guirgossian’s life symbolizing the deep connection the painter had with his homeland.
“The mirror of memory never breaks,” the director noted.
