Mai Ghoussoub, Lamia Safieddine, Frédéric Fontan, Divas

From Thursday, January 19 to Friday, January 27, 2001 at 8:30 pm, Zico House hosted Divas, a play by Mai Ghoussoub performed by Lamia Safieddine and Frédéric Fontan.

Sculptor and author Mai Ghoussoub was born in Beirut and now lives in London. She is a regular contributor to international cultural journals; her installation Displace in partnership with Souheil Sleiman is currently touring the UK. Lamia Safieddine has lived in Guinea, Brazil, Ivory Coast and France where she performs and learns dance. She founded AICOO, La Compagnie des Danses du Monde. Frédéric Fontan studied theater, singing and dance in Toulouse, at the Conservatoire de Paris, at the Novis Artist Center in Berlin, at the Pineapple and the Place Theater in London and at the CND in Lyon. He has performed at the National Opera in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Seoul. 

At the crossroads between art installation, dance and theater, Divas translates first of all a fascination for the great female singers of the 20th century – Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Umm Kulthum, Billie Holiday or Janis Joplin. Embodied in statues designed by Mai Ghoussoub, these women find, through this performance, their pains, their songs and their victory over gender inequalities.

A piece organized by Zico House, performed by Lamia Safieddine and Frédéric Fanton, with text and set design by Mai Ghoussoub, translated into Arabic by Chadi El Zein, lighting by Mustapha Zico Yamout, sound by Basel Qassem and Laurence Chapellier, under the coordination of Ghada Farhat (Beirut).