Walid Kowatli aka Walid Al-Kowatli or Walid Al-Quwatli (Arabic: وليد القوتلي‎) is a Syrian theatre director and playwright, known for directing the Lak' bin Lak' written by Emile Habibi and Waiting for Barbarians an adaptation of Waiting for the Barbarians poem by Constantine P. Cavafy.

Walid Kowatli
BornDamascus, Syria
Occupationplaywright, director
NationalitySyrian
Notable worksLak' bin Lak', Waiting for Barbarians

Early life and education

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Kowatli was born and grew up in Damascus, Syria. He obtained his degree in Theater Direction from the Institute of Art Studies (Krystov Sarafov, formerly) in Sofia, Bulgaria, class of 1973.[1]

Career

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Kowatli headed the Acting Department at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus from 1991 to 1992,[2] before heading the acting department he joined the institute as a teacher in 1979 to teach the art of acting, the basics of directing and the theater laboratory.[3][1]

From 1976 to 1999, he was appointed as director at the Department of TV drama in the Syrian Arab TV, where he directed skits and plays the TV a number of them were directed to children and young.[4]

In March 2012, he headed the jury for theater days for the Colleges of Applied Sciences in Oman, and in the sixth Kalba Festival plays short in the UAE in 2017.[5] In the same year, he received the Golden Shield commemorating the Syrian meeting in Dubai.

During the period from 2013 to 2017, he worked on a number of documents addressing Syrian children lost during wartime.[6][7] His work was presented on stages such as the Syrian National Theater and Al-Kabbani Theater in Damascus and the Sorbonne Theater in Paris.[8]

Kowatli directed nearly 30 predominantly experimental and poetic plays during his tenure in the theater career, and has worked with the rising generation artists in amateur bands such as Waha Al-Raheb.[9][10][11]

Work

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Theatre

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Plays in Syria
Number Stage name Author General presentation Place of presentation
1 Topaze Marcel Bagnol 1974

1974

Al-Shabiba Theater

Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus

2 The Zoo Story[12] Edward Albi 1978 Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus
3 Lak' bin Lak' Emile Habibi 1981 Workers Theatre - Damascus
4 The Frogs Aristophan 1981 Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus
5 The Story of Vasco Georges Schehadé 1982 National Theater - Damascus / graduation project
6 January Yordan Radychkov 1983 National Theater - Damascus
7 Peace Adaptation by Walid Kowatli 1985 Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus
8 The King Will Die Eugène Ionesco 1990 Workers Theatre - Damascus / graduation project
9 The Fox and the Grapes Guilherme Figueiredo 1991 Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus - Damascus
10 Inspired by the Improvised Comedy Walid Kowatli 1991 Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus - Damascus
11 The Lesson Eugène Ionesco 1992 French Cultural Center
12 Kaspar Peter Handke 1992 National Theater - Damascus / graduation project
13 The Origin of The Story Bakr al-Sharqawi 1992 National Theater - Damascus / graduation project
14 Crazy Days Nikolai Gogol 1994 Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus
15 No Comment Walid Kowatli 1996 Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus
16 Stories of the Body Walid Kowatli 1997 Workers Theater - Damascus
17 Eye of the Moon Walid Kowatli 2004 National Theater - Damascus
18 Waiting (playing with Beckett) Walid Kowatli 2006 National Theater - Damascus
19 Flight Attempt Quote Walid Kowatli 2008 Damascus Opera House - Damascus
20 Waiting for Barbarians Adaptation by Walid Kowatli 2010 Opera House - Damascus
Plays outside Syria
Number Stage name Author General presentation Place of presentation
1 Lak' bin Lak' Emile Habibi 1981 Tunisia: Carthage theater
2 Crazy Days Nikolai Gogol 1995 Arab World Institute - Paris
3 Very Happy Woman Days Walid Kowatli 1995 Stuttgart - Germany

Theater "Camel Sand" - Paris

4 As You Like Walid Kowatli 1999 Theater of the Sorbonne - Paris

Mediterranean Festival: Monfalcon - Italy

5 As You See Walid Kowatli 2000 The Opposite Bank Festival: The wooden Sword Theater - Paris[13]
6 Curtains and Colors Walid Kowatli 2003 Sharjah Sixth Interchange: Beit Al Shamsi - Sharjah
7 Violence Walid Kowatli 2003 A theater workshop for the Department of Culture and Information - Sharjah
8 Waiting (playing with Beckett) Quote by Walid Kowatli 2006

2008

Amman Theater Festival - Jordan

Okinawa Theater Festival - Japan

9 Waiting for Barbarians Walid Kowatli 2010 Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theater
10 The Seven Days of Time Nouri al-Jarrah 2012 Doha - Qatar
11 We and the World Walid Kowatli 2016

2017

Gaziantep - Turkey

Istanbul - Turkey[14]

Television and documentaries

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  • 2013: The Children of Syria Ascend to Heaven
  • 2014: Bird of Fire
  • 2015: Baptized with Fire
  • 2016: Maram: The Assassination of a Dream

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ a b "قراءة تحليلية للعرض المسرحي من وليد قوتلي في منتدى الاثنين - فكر وفن - ثقافة - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  2. ^ Jawhara, bushra. "من أوراق المسرح". thawra.sy (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  3. ^ "Suriye Gerçekliği Fiziksel Tiyatro Performansı ile Sahnede". Diren Sanat - Tiyatro, Sinema, Sahne Sanatları (in Turkish). 16 May 2017.
  4. ^ "عالم المسرح". www.startimes.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  5. ^ البيان, الشارقة-. "10 عروض في مهرجان كلباء للمسرحيات القصيرة - فكر وفن - ثقافة - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  6. ^ Wessels, Joshka (2019). Documenting Syria : film-making, video activism and revolution. London. ISBN 978-1-78831-173-1. OCLC 1055680708.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ ""نحن والعالم" جسد يتكسّر ولغة تنتهك.. وليد قوتلي ومسرح الحضور" (in Arabic). sy-24.com. 24 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Gianluca Pinto curriculum". www.gianlucapinto.it.
  9. ^ "المسرح.. بوابة واحة الراهب إلى الفن - فكر وفن - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  10. ^ التقي, دمشق-خليل. "الممثلة - المخرجة السورية "واحة الراهب" في حوار مع "الوسط"". صحيفة الوسط البحرينية (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  11. ^ "مثقفون سوريون يؤسسون رابطة سورية للثقافة". العربية (in Arabic). 2014-06-01. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  12. ^ "Why Egypt embraces Edward Albee | Tanjil Rashid". the Guardian. 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  13. ^ "LUMIÈRES DE L'AUTRE RIVE - Cartoucherie - Théâtre de l'Epée de Bois | THEATREonline.com". www.theatreonline.com.
  14. ^ "Walid Kowatli'nin yönettiği Cut Academy tiyatro oyunu, izleyicisiyle buluşmaya hazırlanıyor". www.biletix.com.