Tayeb Saddiki Analysis

The theatrical aspects of such religious rites were mainly the use of masks, specific roles, and most importantly the use of obscene gestures, rude songs and the carnival ambiance in general to amuse and charm the audience. However, the most popular theatrical elements emerge from the "contage" sessions on the “halqa markets”. It is an oral genre in which the public gathers around a professional storyteller. The performance of the halqa, essentially given by the recitation and gesture of the storyteller, can also involve participation of a musician and an assistant. This assistant was usually dressed in a bizarre and flashy way, with no differentiation between a man and a woman. This storytelling type of performance is still used nowadays

His encouraging attempts have continually tried to revive indigenous theatrical traditions. Tayeb Saddiki is a very well known figure in Moroccan traditional theatre. His main strategies are to stay true to the traditional form of theatre while tackling subjects that traditional theatre would avoid discussing openly. To do so, he would translate French pieces into arabic so that they are accessible to all moroccans and to explore the unspoken subjects of the society using a particular musicality and adding Arabic music in the background. The Halqa is an important element of Tayeb Saddiki’s plays because it is one of the first forms of traditional moroccan theatre and is still around today. This type of theatrical performance is held outdoors. What makes it different from conventional theatre is its content and the specific location in which it is held. Halqa relies mainly on storytelling as well as improvisation and spontaneity. That said, it is important to note that the impact of modern globalization and french colonization of Morocco led to Saddiki’s fear of losing national identity. This concern induced his transplantation of the traditional open-air circle performance called the Halqa into his plays. Tayeb Saddiki went even further in his pieces and transplanted the halqa into a modern theatre building. However, Saddiki never wrote plays in Berbere nor Amazigh. And here is what I think is the root of the bigger problem; on one hand, the lack of engagement towards a deeper understanding of what traditional moroccan theatre is and on the other hand the lack of visibility of berbere production who tries to bring back the essence of a culture that was damaged for centuries and centuries and whose people are still nowadays fighting for the right to study in their language and for the simple approval of being