Demonstrations calling for freedom at the heart of the palace of Bashar al-Assad (or Bisho, as a sarcastic nickname); puppets taking the forms of children, martyrs, shabbiha, and freedom fighters; a dictator screaming, “I am not crazy” in a fit of rage; Hamza al-Khatib, Ghiath Matar and Ibrahim al-Qashoush putting the helpless tyrant on trial: a puppet show of the people and of the revolution. “Matte Straw,” as the group calls itself, is an attempt to use art to amplify the silenced voices of resistance, and to keep the hope alive. For Syrians, as the great playwright Saadallah Wannous once famously declared, are condemned to hope.
Syrian artists and intellectuals took part in the revolution alongside activists from its very beginning. Members of what would become the Matte Straw group were early participants in the peaceful demonstrations. By August 2011, they came to believe that art must also become an essential platform for resistance. The puppet group thus started as an artistic voice of the peaceful protesters as well as an effective mean to protect the identities of the artists and activists involved.
The group is made up of artists from many different backgrounds including theatre, cinema, fine arts and fashion design. And its name is a tribute to Matte, a popular drink in Syria, that is associated with gatherings of people and chatter. The name also conveys the group’s belief that Syrians need to gather again and to discuss and debate their current predicament; something that was missing under the dictatorship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRMDPE_1Pwk
The idea of using puppets was due to its “quintessential sarcastic nature and its ability to tear down that aura of invincibility surrounding the tyrant, through the simple act of caricature and black comedy,” according to one member of Matte Straw. The group’s first show was called, “The Premier Shabbih - Diaries of a Little Dictator.” Where the the tyrant is represented in a puppet named “Bisho,” in an obvious attempt to poke fun at Bashar al-Assad and thus encourage viewers to do the same.
The show continued thus with the same format of “5-minute long comedy that serves as a conscious commentary about what’s happening in Syria, and which is shared with audiences through social networks and television stations.” Topics discussed ranged from oppression, to imprisonment, the bloody nature of the regime along with tributes to the revolution’s martyrs. The group later expanded its works into “theatrical shows on the ground in liberated towns and cities as a way to reach the audiences directly. The last of these shows was in the town of Manbij, near Aleppo, where the group took part in the festival of “Mosaic Syria” which was organized by local activists.”
The plots show special sensitivity to the ongoing events in the country, but without neglecting the higher ideals of the revolutions which are always embedded in the show. The main topics are chosen through dialogues and informal conversations with people about the ideas of democracy, civil state, transitional justice and others which the basic structures of democratic nations.
Like most other civil society projects, the group’s main objectives are about the struggle towards a just and equal state where individual rights are respected and against the totalitarian, exclusionist and violent dogmas. The group also hopes to use theatre and art to create a sphere where people can relax away from the violent reality. An additional motive for the group’s work is to reflect the less-than-highlighted facets in the Syrian uprising, like civil activism, which is underrepresented in the media in favor of the militarised facets of the conflict.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zKcjd8tYMo
The group also cooperates with many other activist circles that share the same ideals of a just and civil Syria. Cooperation projects were organized with groups including: Half an Apple, Syrian Bear, Syrian People Know Their Way among others. While the group started with private funding, its success in the first season of The Premier Shabbih, brought support from non-governmental organizations interested in the arts. And thus the second season is currently being funded by Hivos and the Prince Claus Fund.
The team is now preparing for a new theatrical show that will be played in liberated areas of the country in the coming months. They are also hoping to use workshops on theatre and acting as a way to strengthen the role of arts in the new “Bisho-free” Syria.
Despite the fact that the puppets had to be smuggled outside of the country due to the immense security pressures, they have become symbols of the revolution and of the silenced voices and broken dreams of the revolutionaries. Matte Straw, joins Samih Shuqeir, Fadwa Suleiman, al-Qashoush in a long line of artists who have contributed to the dismantling of the tyrant’s most imminent line of defense: its image.
