Syria lost on Friday the writer and theater director Farhan Bulbul after a long struggle with illness at the age of 88, and with his absence the Arab theater lost one of its pioneers who came after the founding generation.
Bulbul was a milestone in the history of Syrian and Arab theater in recent decades, as he worked as a writer and director at the same time and was able to establish theatrical literature in Syria through dozens of written, embodied and translated theatrical works.
The playwright was born in a popular neighborhood in the Syrian city of Homs and was greatly interested in Western literature, including novels and intellectual books. He also followed contemporary Arabic literature in various Arab countries, especially in Egypt.
After graduating from the university in 1960, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, the deceased was appointed as a teacher of Arabic language for secondary school, and then began his literary activity as a poet and storyteller.
Bulbul also began writing literary criticism, and wrote 13 plays, none of which he showed because he considered them exercises in this art. In 1969, he wrote his first mature play, The Scarlet Walls.
He also adapted a number of well-known foreign plays, including some plays by Nazim Hikmet, two Russian plays, and a German play, The Broken Urn by von Kleist. He adapted Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle and wrote The Villages Ascend to the Moon, in which the German original disappeared to appear purely Arab.
However, the distinguishing mark in the life and creativity of Bulbul was the Workers' Theater Troupe that he founded in Homs in 1973, which was like his second home. From that time until 1990, he directed twenty-two plays, two of which were for children. These plays were written by him and by Arab and foreign writers. The most important of these are: “The Party Turned on in the Neighborhood”, “The Actors Throw Stones at Each Other”, “Don’t Look Through the Keyhole”, “Lovers Never Fail”, “The Rock and the Hole”, “The Green Box”, and “Don’t Be Afraid of the Sword’s Edge”.
Since its establishment, the troupe has been presenting its theatrical performances in Homs and other cities, villages, and residential areas in Syria from north to south. The troupe has resorted to a new method, which is holding a symposium on the play after the show with all types of audiences, from the audience of cities with a long history in the art of theater to the audience of villages and residential areas that do not know theater. Thus, the troupe contributed to spreading theatrical culture in Syria.
The troupe continued its activities until 2011, when it stopped working due to the war and the migration of many of its members outside the country. Thus, the troupe continued to work energetically for a period of nearly forty-five years. It is the longest-lived theatrical troupe in the history of theater.
The late artist lived through the tyranny of the Baath Party and suffered from its fires like other Syrian creators. Despite that, he was bold in criticizing authority, injustice and tyranny. This was evident in the titles and texts of his plays, which evaded censorship and crossed red lines with professionalism and skill. In his speech on Arab Theater Day, which he delivered during the Arab Theater Authority Festival held in Tunisia in 2018, Bulbul demanded that Arab theater be free, that police stations be closed in the minds of creators, that restrictions be broken on the tongues of theater professionals and their ideas, and that fear be removed from their hearts when they think.
His son, the artist Nawar Bulbul, was one of the opponents of the Assad regime, and lived far from it and in exile outside Syria since 2011 until he returned to his city of Homs a few days ago after the fall of Assad and the liberation of the country from tyranny to see him in his last days.
A number of Syrian artists and intellectuals mourned Bulbul, describing him as "the pyramid of Syrian and Arab theater who carried on his shoulders the concerns of theater and the connotations of the word to convey a sublime lesson to humanity.
The writer "Abdul Karim Omrein", who accompanied the late writer for many years and worked with him in the workers' theater, commented: "You may be a bridge for others. The candle in your hand may not be enough to light the world, but the honor of leadership is enough for you in a time where there are no bridges or candles."
The Syrian artist and director, Orwa Al-Ahmad, said: "Farhan Bulbul was not only the godfather of Homs theater, but he was also a virtuous educator for many of its intellectuals."
He added: "This man built a parallel Homs society based on noble moral values in a country whose cultural climate was ravaged by corruption. He was, in turn, a unique combination of rebellion and gentleness at the same time."
The writer Tayseer Khalaf described the late Farhan Bulbul as one of three who preserved the trust of theater in the history of Syria, along with "Abu Khalil Al-Qabbani and Abdel Wahab Abu Al-Saud.
Hassan Falah Oghli commented, "We will miss you greatly, a professor and innovator, a brother, a friend, and a "storyteller" of a rare caliber, and above all, a noble, hospitable, and generous person. We will miss your smile, your sweet talk, and our sessions in your generous home."
Fares Al-Rifai - Zaman Al-Wasl
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