Hosted by Factory International, producers of extraordinary art from world-renowned figures to Manchester’s rising stars, Collective Ma’louba brings a captivating, deeply poignant production by Syrian playwright Mudar Alhaggi which explores justice, hope, political memory and a complex legacy of destruction through the true story of a notorious Nazi fugitive from Thu 21 – Sat 23 Mar at Aviva Studios.

Widely known as one of the most wanted war criminals to escape sentencing, Alois Brunner evaded capture after assisting in the deportation of over 100,000 European Jews to concentration camps and segregated ghettoes. Fleeing to Damascus, he ultimately became a key figure in the development of Syrian intelligence services.

Staged as a gripping blend of research, history and memoir, The Long Shadow of Alois Brunner takes shape through an ingenious meta-narrative in which two actors arrive to rehearsals to find discordant shreds of research, documents and personal memories collated by Alhaggi, after he arrived in twenty-first century Berlin as a refugee, discovered Brunner’s story and developed an all-consuming fixation before mysteriously disappearing.

The actors, unsure of where the play is, what their roles are or even whose story they are telling, are forced to piece together the remnants of Alhaggi’s tireless work as fact, fiction and world history collide, producing a story of devastation, exile and lost accountability from the complex interwoven histories of Syria and Germany.


To book tickets to the gripping new play from Collective Ma’louba and Mudar Alhaggi, click here.

A Manchester Wire Partnership post
Thu 21 Mar - Sat 23 Mar, 7.30pm, 8pm, Aviva Studios,
Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ
, £7.50-£15
factoryinternational.org
Words:
Wolf McFarlane
Published on:
Fri 1 Mar 2024