Tour in Morocco. March – April 2016

Following the tour traveling in Northern Africa we spent 2 months in Morocco. Before to arrive in the country we have booked a show in Casablanca, just some days after our arrival at the beginning of March, and we also have scheduled to participate in a Theatre Festival at the end of April, but we did not knew at this moment was what will we do in the almost two months between one thing and the other.

Just arriving in Casablanca we had the surprise of met again with our friend Yassmine, whom we have met two years ago in a theatre festival in Canada, in the Tour by Car in the Americas. Yassmine introduced us to her family and suddenly we were inside of a lot of custom and habits of the arabic culture, that we already were knowing from Tunisia but still continue discovering. We shared the traditional Thé à la menthe (mint tea) , something that can´t be lack in every meeting, listened some Andaluz music and many stories about the country.

The first show we presented in Morocco was in the neighborhood of Sidi Moumen in Casablanca, was a very good experience, sharing the show with the audiences and meeting new friends.

After two weeks in Casablanca we followed the tour the country traveling by train to Ksar El Kebir, a small town in the north of Morocco where we participated in a theatre festival. Ksar El Kebir isn´t a tourist place, it make it feel so authentic while you walking in the street or markets. Here we also shared a good show, enjoyed the others plays if the festival, met new theatre companies from Morocco and Palestine and make new friends. In Morocco is normal that people speak more than one language, Arabic and French are official but in depends of the region many people speak spanish also.

After 15 days in Ksar El kebir we came back to Casablanca where meet in the airport with a lot of Marocaine actors and theatre companies and all together travel to the Sahara region, the desert southern Morocco, more than thousand kilometres from Casablanca, to participate in a theatre festival.

Suddenly the landscape becomes dunes of sand, sea and sun. We made two shows at the Sahara, one in Laayoune and other in La Marsa, and also get to see some of the others plays that were also showcased during the festival.

From Laayoune we came back to Casablanca, again with all the theatre companies with we have lived together for almost a week. Once in airport everyone follow their way and we continue with Tarek, our friend that invited us to this festival in the desert and now was taking us to the town were he lives to present Mandragora Circo there. The three travelled by car to the town of Beni Mellal, in the center of Morocco. A small town all  surrounded by green and mountains with snow in the top. Our friend Tarek speaks arabic and french but we were able to communicate the time we share living with him. He also speak Berbère that is the traditional language of Morocco, before the arabic, that is now official too so is possible to see how the signs are written in Berbère too.

Arriving in Beni Mellal we meet, in the same cultural centre where we would present the show, with Elio Triana an italian historian, whom was there to do a conference about the history of the italian circus, that is also the history of the circus itself. We enjoyed a lot listening about the first clowns and circus shows.

 

 

Our show was Saturday in the morning, the theatre was full of children, youth and families. Once it finish we take the bus to do the longer journey in Morocco, traveling 14 hours by bus to arrive in Berkane, a city in the northwest, almost in the border with Algeria.

During the theatre festival in Tunisia, in December 2015, we meet Hassan and he invited us to his festival in Morocco at this moment we couldn’t imagine we will be here, but there we were, arriving in Berkane to meet again with our friend, after 5 months, and participate in the festival with theatre companies from many arabic countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman, Morocco and us.

 

All the week in the Festival we spent good moments sharing with the companies and when the festival was over we stayed some more days in the city, living with Hassan and his family enjoying the traditional life of Morocco.

Berkane was the last city where we performed in Morocco. Also traveled to other cities, like Fes and Marrakech to visit, in every city we enjoyed to walk in the “medinas”, the old cities with small pathways and labyrinths, full of markets and handcrafts.

Ending the tour in Morocco we returned in Casablanca where spent the last days with Yassmine´s family one more time, sharing many traditions and stories, in this way we let back, a least for a while, the arabic world to follow the tour in Africa.