Zürcher Theater Spektakel

When on 14 January 2011 the Tunisian president Ben Ali gave in to massive public protests and fled his country, it must have come as a déjà vu feeling to the great film and theatre maker Fadhel Jaïbi and his co-author Jalila Baccar. In an almost prophetic way their play «Yahia Yaïch ‒ Amnesia», which premiered in spring 2010, anticipated the fall of the head of a thoroughly corrupt regime. The production was a red flag to the Tunisian censorship board, for «Amnesia» accurately portrays the agony of a population torn between hope, paralyzing resignation and despair. While onstage the oppressor is brought down in a palace coup, the real-life liberators were the Tunisian people. For once reality has outstripped art. Fadhel Jaïbi wistfully remarks that «the people, alas, are not involved in my coup d’état.» (esc)