"Arachné" residency by Nejma Zeghidi
with children
2019-2020
L'Art Rue
Nejma Zeghidi, drama artist and director
Selim Ayari, collaborator and assistant director
Salwa Ben Salah / Lamia Ben Salah, collaborators for the preparation of actors
Férid Sanaa, visual and sound creation
Sabri Atrouss, technical director
Mohamed Salah Madani, technical management
With: Alaa Touati, Fatma Chahrazed Jaziri, Islem Hmaydi, Khalil Baccouche, Lina Habessi, Maram Mabrouki, Mohamed Kh’li and Raaa Gharbi
L'Art Rue
The European Union “Deconstructing Violence through Art” project.
Video
From December 2019 to October 2020, the actress and screenwriter Nejma Zeghidi is in artistic residence at L'Art Rue to develop a theatrical creation with a group of eight children from the medina of Tunis. After accidentally discovering through a theatre workshop that very young children were under the influence of dangerous video games that could push them to commit criminal acts, this theme became unavoidable.
It was imperative to alert parents, teachers, officials, civil society, and the State. The children were scared and trapped. What was to be done?
The start of a solution came from the children themselves. Recounting their experience – an experience of obsession, addiction, fear, and loneliness. Telling their story and bringing it out in the open in front of young and old, so that the former feel less alone and more cautious, and the latter more alert and aware.
It is through the story of "Arachné", a video game that interferes in the life of a group of children squatting in an abandoned barracks in the Medina of Tunis, that the labyrinths of the children's secret lives will be visited. The game will invade their space of freedom and try to control their fate. It will push children to take on increasingly dangerous challenges to the point of irreparable damage. This play is co-created with a group of eight children.
Practical information
From December 2019 to October 2020