misunderstanding each other since 2003

Fence Archive

17. Amsterdam, November 14th-18th 2012

Click here to view the programme and here for the participant list for this meeting.

In partnership with the Theater Instituut Nederland and MC Theater, Amsterdam, and with financial support from SICA – the Dutch Centre for International Cultural Activities - and The British Council, we focused on a European playwriting engagement with the Middle East.

Playwrights and cultural operators from Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Egypt, and Morocco met with Dutch and pan-European counterparts.

We

  • Learned about the landscape for playwriting in different Middle East countries. You can read contributions from Adel Abdel Wahab and Nehad Selaiha here
  • Engaged with Cultural Policy and Higher Education there as two key parts of that landscape and its development
  • Identified partners in Netherlands and other European countries with an interest in work emanating from the region
  • Heard presentations from Gary Feingold and Natasja van ‘t Westende at Dancing on The Edge and Dennis Meyer about his work in Gaza
  • Identified interested partners in the Middle East who want to develop playwriting focused relationships with the Netherlands and Europe
  • Previewed a new book Doomed by Hope Essays on Arab Theatre, due to be published by our friends at Pluto Press, with support from the Prince Claus Fund Library Project
  • Ran a scratch night of extracts from six new pieces and two new ideas.

A big thank you to Anja Krans at TIN and Katja Hieminga at MC