Botrys (Batroun)

BOTRYS (Batroun), ancient Syria, modern Lebanon.

COORDINATES: 34º15’21.50’’N // 35º39’42.27’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE:

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY:

CAVEA: The only existing remains are part of the cavea, probably summa by the diameter of the section.

ORCHESTRA:

STAGE BUILDING:

LOCATION: The remains of the roman theatre are inside a garden of a private house, east of modern Botrys, 60 klm. north of Beirut.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Chase, Raymond G. “Ancient Hellenistic and Roman amphitheatres, stadiums and theatres. The way they look now”. Portsmouth, Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2002. // Sear, Frank; “Roman theatres: an architectural study”. Oxford University Press, 2006. // Ciancio Rossetto, Paola; Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio (eds); “Teatri Greci e Romani: alle origini del linguaggio rappresentato”. Rome: SEAT, 1995.

OUT OF PRINT: When I was a child I used to watch Beirut images on tv news, they were images of tanks in a dusty city... for me that was a far world, like a world that lived in another dimension, very far... that images of Lebanon war made me feel strange and restless, but in another way I felt safe for being so far... that was I believed, a very far world, so far that it was impossible for me to be there in my life... so I was safe... Walking by Beirut´s streets you can see today the traces of the war that I watched on tv when I was younger although unfortunately you can see traces of more wars there... so many wars there... I had the luck of travel to Lebanon, of work there doing the best I know to do... thanks to Wallid and Wasim and all the people of the Palestinian refugee camps for teaching me the right meaning of life.

Byblos (Jbaïl)

BYBLOS (Jbaïl), ancient Siria, modern Lebanon.

COORDINATES: 34º07’09.59” N  / 35º38’42.07” E

TIPOLOGY : Greek theatre. Urban.

DATE: III A.D..

TRANSFORMATIONS: In modern times it was removed from its original location in order to reach earlier levels, originally it was built between the City Gate, the “L” temple and the Obelisque temple.

CAPACITY: 

CAVEA: Facing west. Diameter unknow, probably about 48 m. Ima cavea: It had 30 rows of seat but only 7 are preserved in 7 cunei.

ORCHESTRA: 11,6 m. diameter. It was paved with a mosaic of Bacchus, now in National Museum of Beirut. An altar was found in the orchestra.

STAGE BUILDING: Proscaenium is unique for the decoration of the five niches, they represent pediments supported by small columns with Corinthian capitails.

LOCATION: 100 m. west of crusader castle. Jbaïl is 35 klm. north of Beirut.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Sear, Frank; “Roman theatres: an architectural study”. Oxford University Press, 2006. // Ciancio Rossetto, Paola; Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio (eds); “Teatri Greci e Romani: alle origini del linguaggio rappresentato”. Rome: SEAT, 1995. // Blas de Roblès, Jean Marie; Pieri, Dominique; Yon, Jean-Baptiste; “Vestiges archéologiques du Liban”. Aix-en-Provence, Édisud – Librairie Antoine, 2004.

OUT OF PRINT: I traveled to Lebanon for playing theatre there. But I did not play in an ancient scenario like Byblos one or like the moderns theatres in Beirut. I played theatre in the streets, in small streets with cars and with not squares, in dirty paths... I traveled to Lebanon with Clowns Without Borders in 2009, I played in Palestinian Refugee Camps, trying to turn toy guns in smiles, trying to distract children from their harsh reality. The auditorium in Byblos is covered by sand... and the silence of the sea... in Refugee Camps there is another kind of sand... not places for playing theatre, there is not places for children to play, all the life is in street, all is the street sand... never in my life my work, acting, had as much meaning as when I fight acting with the sand of the streets in the Refugee Camps, when in the meddle of the barbarism I learned that laughter is truly a world heritage place.