Tag Archives | play

“W Ma Tallet Colette” – A Big Middle Finger in The Face of The Authorities

By Rami on December 27, 2018 in Reviews, Theater

On November 23rd 2017, Ziad Itani was arrested and accused of collaborating with an Israeli Mossad agent to plot the assassination of minister Nohad Machnouk and former minister Abdel Rahim Mrad, and it wasn’t until March 2018 that we learnt he was in fact a victim of false evidences. The whole thing turned out to have been arranged by the former head of the cybercrime bureau simply because he dared taking a screenshot of a tweet she liked.

A year later, and instead of emerging as a broken man, Ziad Itani collaborated with Khaled Soubeih to illustrate what he has gone through in a new play titled “W Ma Tallit Colette” that started showing last month at Metro Al Madina. I watched it on Tuesday and totally loved Itani’s performance in it.

Everyone knows the story, Ziad made several TV appearances to tell what really happened, and all the media outlets that originally bashed him for “being a traitor” have also later spoken about the truth. Still, watching the development of events on stage was captivating the whole time. You will be amazed at how a worthless and stupid evidence can lead the interrogators to extort a confession from Itani over something he never did, and the process will make you loathe the authorities.

Throughout the play, Ziad expresses everything he felt during detention, and he will make you understand how vulnerable can anyone get in a similar situation. One scene will even seriously stress you as Ziad tell about the thoughts that were going through his mind in his solitary confinement. Still, the play absolutely qualifies as a comedy and the cast will make you laugh during the whole two hours. The best of all though is that you will leave feeling that Ziad Itani emerged from this case as strong as he can be, an gave one big middle finger to the corrupt authorities and those who unlawfully wanted to put him behind bars.

Needless to say, I recommend you go watch it. You can check the showtimes on MetroMadina.com and book your tickets from AntoineTicketing.com.

Review – “Film Ameriki Tawil” 36 Years Later

By Rami on October 11, 2016 in Cinema, Reviews

Last night was the avant premiere for the highly anticipated Film Ameriki Tawil and I had the privilege to be among the attendees. Needless to say, it was really awesome to finally see the original footage of this play since I have always enjoyed listening to this masterpiece by Ziad Rahbani on the radio!

As in the case with Bennesbe Labokra Chou, M Media did a fantastic job by reconstructing several old videos in order to create this movie. However, unlike last year’s end result, Film Ameriki Tawil has a better image quality, looks much smoother thanks to the use of fixed cameras during the original recording, and has an almost consistent audio level and quality. So if you felt annoyed by the shaky image in “Bennesbe Labokra Chou” then I can guarantee this one is much more better and has much better scene transitions. In my opinion, this movie does more justice to Ziad Rahbani’s work than the previous one.

As far as the acting is concerned, I believe I would be stating the obvious by telling it was impressive. I mostly loved the authentic performance by Joseph Sakr, Ziad Abou Absi and Rafik Najem. Watching Sakr singing three time during the play/movie was alone a treat for me! So, to make a long story short, I highly recommend you go watch it and take older people like your parents with you because they’ll definitely get some good memories and laughs back! The official release date is set for October 20th, and for those who would like to get a sneak peak of it I have shared a beautiful video on Facebook of “Raj3a bi iznillah” with the whole cast dancing to it. (link)

However, as I recommended last year, do yourself a favor and delay booking your tickets a bit, Ziad’s diehard fans will naturally attend the early screenings and my opinion about them still stands, they’re annoying! One guy was sitting behind us last night and almost recited the whole scenario while the movie was playing.

On another note, I have a good new to whoever missed watching Bennesbe Labokra Chou last year, the guys from M Media will soon be officially launching their streaming service which will allow you to watch their productions for $5 per month (think of it as a Lebanese Netflix) and that includes Bennesbe Labokra Chou which will also be available for watching on their website.

Review – Beirut Fawq Al Shajara بيروت فوق الشجرة

By Rami on April 21, 2016 in Art, Reviews

I recently watched “Beirut Fawq Al Shajara” written by Yehya Jaber and starring Ziad Itani, the same duo who brought us “Beirut Tarik Jdideh” a couple of years ago. And while the latter featured stories inspired from the day to day lives of people living in Tarik Jdideh, the new play focused on events that took place around other areas in Beirut. It might sound redundant at first, but trust me it isn’t. Ziad Itani delivered once again a solid performance without feeling fake on stage, and never failed to crack the audience up at the stories he was illustrating.

Beirut Fawk al Shajara follows the story of Fouad, a Beiruti influenced by his Turkish grandmother as a child, who manages to engage into relationships with many women of different nationalities as he ages while working as tailor. With each relationship we get introduced to some event that took place at a certain time in Beirut’s recent history in a humorous way.

What makes it all interesting is that despite the whole story being fictitious, the events Ziad Itani tells are all pretty accurate. So you’ll be laughing your heart our over the play duration but still learn a good deal from the recent history of the city. You are also guaranteed to be leaving the theater and for some reason humming “Oh lali 3ala Oh lala”!

All in all, and as a side note, I’m really satisfied about the plays Lebanese artists have performed over the last few years such as Venus, Ka3eb 3aleh, and Injazat 7ayat to name a few that do not speak to the audience in a dumb way the same way Lebanese movies and drama series mostly do.

Beirut Fawq Al Shajara is showing at Teatro Verdun (Dunes Center) on Mondays and Thursdays, with tickets selling for 35,000L.L. Needless to say, I highly recommend you go watch it!

A Very Subjective Opinion on “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” The Movie

By Rami on January 26, 2016 in Reviews

bennesbeh labokra chou

I finally managed to watch “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” in cinema a couple of days ago and was so delighted to finally see the original acting instead of imagining the scenes in my head!

The work that M Media has done is definitely remarkable since the movie is actually made out of several amateur recordings of the play that were carefully reconstructed and arranged to make a relatively smooth movie. But as much as I enjoyed watching the whole thing, I couldn’t stop thinking the whole time that “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” is so perfect it deserved a way better video quality.

The videos are basically all grainy, out of focus at times and shaky at others. I don’t mean there was anything that could have been done better… Retaking a shot is absolutely not an option in our case and the producers were obliged to work with anything Ziad was providing. However, the end result was unfortunately a movie that I don’t feel like watching again unlike the audio plays that I never get bored of. Ziad El-Rahbani is probably the only one to blame for not taking the shooting seriously back then.

“Film Ameriki Tawil” will soon be also showing in cinemas, and I just hope it is recorded in a more professional way. Ziad’s play are timeless and deserve to be treated the same way some Egyptian classics like “Madraset Al Moushaghibin” and “El Wad Sayyed El Shaghal” are still being aired on TV sometimes.

Anyway, what I’ve wrote should never keep you from watching “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” on the big screen. And despite the bad quality of the video, I guarantee you will still enjoy finally seeing the original acting, especially the part where Joseph Sakr sings “3a Hadir El Bosta” with everyone around him dancing to it.

3 Reasons to Avoid The Early Screenings of Bennesbeh Labokra Chou

By Rami on January 14, 2016 in Lebanon

Don’t get me wrong, just as you guys probably felt, I was also super excited to learn that Ziad is finally releasing Bennesbeh Labokra Chou in cinemas and I’m already planning to go see it but I personally really prefer to skip to the first few screenings for these reasons.

Ziad fanatics

We all have that one annoying friend who literally worships Ziad Rahbani and takes every possible opportunity to quote a line from his plays. Some even take it a bit further and imitate the way Ziad speaks. These guys have definitely already booked their tickets and will be all present at the early screenings. Chances are no one wants to be present wherever these people gather and start talking to each other… at least I dont!
The joke spoilers

Some people can recite the play like the alphabet since they know it by heart. To prove their skills, they will be spoiling every single joke before the actors even start with it. These ones will also be there for the early shows and you probably don’t want to be with them in the same theater!
We all know the ending anyway

There’s no way for someone to ruin the play for you since we’ve almost all heard it a thousand times and know how it ends. I personally want to go see it because it’s a privilege seeing Ziad Rahbani and Joseph Sakr performing together after 35 years of hearing them on the radio, so waiting a little until the craze cools down a little bit won’t hurt.

Ziad Rahbani 24/7

By Rami on January 8, 2016 in Music

ziad-rahbani

I’m a fan of Ziad Rahbani, not the kind of fans that consider him a god, but I do love his work and I was glad to stumble upon a new cool radio station that airs nothing but his plays and music!

The station is broadcasting on 105.7 MHz and I’ve been listening to it on my way to work or home over the last few days to enjoy Ziad’s jokes that never get old.

I’m not sure until when the broadcast will remain the same but I believe it won’t be long until a new radio station is launched. So for now, just enjoy the laughs and good music before trendy Arabic songs take over!

Review – Beirut… Tarik el Jdideh

By Rami on February 21, 2014 in Reviews

Last weekend I watched the comedy play “Beirut… Tarik el Jdideh” by Lebanese poet Yehia Jaber, and it’s by far one of the funniest plays I’ve watched.

Unlike other comedy plays, Tarik el Jdideh doesn’t make fun or disrespect the inhabitants of that area but rather uses black comedy to tell their stories since the beginning of the 20th century till today, while shedding light on the sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia.

Throughout two hours, actor Ziad Itani (who performs alone by the way) gets you to know the people of Tarik el Jdideh by portraying their weddings, celebrations, funerals, and eid rituals, in addition to telling about real events that took place such as some incidents that happened during the Lebanese civil war and when the Syrians came later on. A significant part of the play also describes the clashes that used to happen between Al Ansar fans and those of Al Nejmeh and how it all started.

Tarik el Jdideh is highly recommended not just for being super entertaining, but also for the strong message it delivers at the end.

It’s currently showing at Metro Al Madina and will last till the end of March as their events schedule show. Tickets are for 25,000L.L and you may reserve by calling 76-309363.

Below are some short parts of the play as well as interviews with its writer Yehia Jaber and actor Ziad Itani by Now Lebanon.

Ka3eb 3aleh كعب عالي

By Rami on January 25, 2014 in Reviews

ka3eb 3aleh

I’ve been hearing a lot about Ka3eb 3aleh by Jacques Maroun so I decided to go watch it with a group of friends last night.

Starring Talal el Jurdi, Ammar Chalak, Rita Hayek, and Nisrine Abi Samra, the play is an adaptation of “Spike Heels” by Theresa Rebeck, and explores sexual harassment, misplaced love, and the possibility of a four sided love triangle.

I personally loved the performance of all four actors especially Ammar Chalak. And the the change from one scene to another or from one mood to another felt so smooth.

The play is by the way restricted for people over 18 years old due to some scenes being a bit sexual in addition to Rita Hayek showing in a hot pants and bra sometimes (looking extremely hot!), still nothing seemed vulgar which shows how talented the actors are. And that’s something we’d all love to see in other Lebanese plays and movies I guess!

Ka3eb 3aleh will be be showing tomorrow and next week for the last 5 shows in Monot theater, so if you want to watch it you better reserve as soon as possible through Virgin Ticketing Box Office.

Ziad Rabani to appear on Al Mayadeen TV

By Rami on September 27, 2012 in Lebanon

According to this article in Al-Akhbar, Ziad Rahbani is making an appearance on Al Mayadeen TV tomorrow night with Ghassan Ben Jeddo to express his opinion about the Arab Spring, talk about Assi El Rahbani and Fayrouz, and finally announce a surprise to his fans.

I personally don’t care about his political opinion, I just hope he’ll be announcing a concert/play anytime soon!

Anyway, if you’re a fan of Ziad, make sure to mark your calendar tomorrow at 9:30PM.

Nazl El-Sourour on video

By Rami on September 3, 2011 in Lebanon

Have you even seen any of Ziad El-Rahbani’s plays on video? Below are 3 videos from the timeless “Nazl El Sourour”.

I never understood why is Ziad refraining from releasing the full videos of his plays. Some claim he’s just waiting to make some good money by selling them if he ever went through a bad time.

Thanks @_kaled

1 2 Next →

Tag Archives | play

Ziad fanatics

The joke spoilers

We all know the ending anyway