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Collective Ma’louba (Berlin / Damaskus)
World premiere | Co-production | Arabic with German and English surtitles | Recommended for ages 14+
EXERCISES FOR A POSSIBLE RETURN is both a personal and political exploration of what it means to return, after years of exile, to a homeland scarred by war. Two years after the fall of the Syrian regime and ten years after founding their “theatre in exile”, Collective Ma’louba is confronted with a reality that long seemed unimaginable: the possibility of returning.
Amid music, memories and shared rituals, four people meet on stage. They debate, disagree, reconcile, and share both hopes and doubts. Autobiographical experiences, documentary material and fictional narratives combine to create a multilayered piece of theatre about home, identity and the question of who gets to decide what return means.
Each member of the ensemble brings their own story – of longing for Damascus, the traces of displacement and a life built elsewhere. Through precise observation, subtle humour and psychological depth, the piece offers an intense reflection on loss, belonging and new beginnings.
Following the international success of THE LONG SHADOW OF ALOIS BRUNNER – premiered at euro-scene Leipzig in 2023 – Collective Ma’louba continues its artistic engagement with flight, exile and memory. The ensemble is one of the most important Syrian theatre collectives in exile, combining documentary theatre with a range of dramaturgical forms. EXERCISES FOR A POSSIBLE RETURN is not only about Syria, but about the search for a home between memory and the present – and the realisation that returning is never only about a place, but always about one’s own identity as well.
About Collective Ma’louba
Collective Ma’louba – Arabic for ‘turned upside down’ – was founded in 2016 on the initiative of Theater an der Ruhr by Syrian theatre artists who trained at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. The aim was to provide professional working conditions for artists from Syria in Germany. Today, the collective’s members live in various European countries, with its core members currently based in Berlin, Marseille, Duisburg and Paris. Theater an der Ruhr remains the company’s main supporter.
Ma’louba’s work reflects on the lived experiences of Arabs in a global context, exploring their historical, political and colonial entanglements as well as the instability of displaced and unsettled lives. Its productions are always rooted in contemporary realities and address themes such as migration, identity, culture, freedom and the nature of theatre itself.
Its productions YOUR LOVE IS FIRE (2017), DAYS IN THE SUN (2018), REINE FORMSACHE (2019), THE RETURN OF DANTON (2021) and UP THERE (2022) have toured extensively, including to Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim and the Münchner Kammerspiele.
The 2023 production THE LONG SHADOW OF ALOIS BRUNNER (the premiere was at euro-scene Leipzig 2023) toured to nine countries, with performances at venues and festivals including D-CAF Festival in Cairo, Théâtre El Hamra in Tunis, Factory International in Manchester, HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin, Oda Theatre in Kosovo, Masahat Festival in Oslo, Teatro Ateneo Nuovo in Rome and sogar theater in Zurich.
Biographies
Mudar Alhaggi is a playwright, dramaturg and cultural activist. He graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in 2005 and is now based in Berlin. He has written four plays for Collective Ma’louba. THE RETURN OF DANTON premiered digitally at Shubbak Festival and was presented live at the Münchner Kammerspiele in 2021. The Stage described it as “a nuanced piece of meta-theatre about revolution and German theatre” and “a clever, multi-dimensional piece of writing”.
His plays often have a biographical or autobiographical dimension, relating his own situation to political, historical and social conditions. His diaries, written after his arrival in Germany in 2015, became the radio play BARSACH, elements of which were later incorporated into YOUR LOVE IS FIRE. His subsequent plays for Collective Ma’louba — REINE FORMSACHE (A MATTER OF FORM), THE RETURN OF DANTON and THE LONG SHADOW OF ALOIS BRUNNER — explore key moments in the lives of refugee artists within a European context.
Wael Kadour graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in 2005 and is now based in Paris. He has published several plays in Arabic, English, French and Italian. Together with Mohamad Alrashi, he co-directed his play CHRONICLES OF A CITY WE NEVER KNEW in France; the production subsequently toured Germany and Italy in 2019.
Since 2016, he has collaborated regularly with Collective Ma’louba as well as with Arabeska Teatern in Sweden. For Collective Ma’louba, he devised UP THERE, a play based on the testimonies of former communist detainees who performed Ibsen’s THE LADY FROM THE SEA in Douma Women’s Prison in 1991. His latest play, BRAVEHEART, premiered in 2025 and was presented at Theater an der Ruhr and Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi. In 2025, he was invited to the Festival d’Avignon to present CHAPITRE QUATRE as part of the Vive le Sujet! programme.
Mohammad Alrashi graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus and is now based in Marseille. He began his professional career as an actor at the National Theatre and co-founded the Damascus Theatre Lab with Oussama Ghanam in 2009.
He performed in WHILE I WAS WAITING by Mohammad Al Attar, directed by Omar Abusaada, which was presented at the Festival d’Avignon in 2016 and subsequently toured to Brussels, Lausanne, Naples, Zurich, Paris and Geneva, as well as to Japan, the United States and Australia.
Mohammad Alrashi is a regular collaborator with Collective Ma’louba and has performed in YOUR LOVE IS FIRE (2017), DAYS IN THE SUN (2018), THE RETURN OF DANTON (2021) and THE LONG SHADOW OF ALOIS BRUNNER (2023). In 2022, he co-directed UP THERE with Wael Kadour.
He has appeared in numerous films, including the award-winning GREEN BORDER by acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland. He also regularly performs with Catherine Vincent in music and poetry events exploring Syrian themes and experiences.
Amal Omran is regarded as one of the most accomplished actresses in the Arab world. She graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in 1989 and is highly sought after in theatre, television and film.
From 2004 to 2006, she worked with Ariane Mnouchkine, including on the production GILGAMESH. She has also collaborated with Kuwaiti-British director Sulayman Al-Bassam, performing in RICHARD III: AN ARAB TRAGEDY (2007) and THE SPEAKER’S PROGRESS (2011), both of which were presented at major festivals in the Arab world and internationally.
She worked with British director Tim Supple on ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, which was presented, among other venues, at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 2014, her monodrama HAK premiered at Kumbaracı50 in Istanbul.
As a founding member of Collective Ma’louba, Amal Omran has performed in YOUR LOVE IS FIRE, REINE FORMSACHE and THE RETURN OF DANTON. She is now also a member of the ensemble at Theater an der Ruhr, where she recently appeared in THE BOND. FRIENDSHIP AS A WAY OF LIFE, which premiered in February 2026.
Layla Madanat is a British director, producer, dramaturg and researcher of Jordanian-Palestinian heritage. Working across theatre, film and social justice, she is drawn to projects that interrogate the world we are building together. Her practice combines rigorous research with bold visual instincts and is rooted in a commitment to care and collaboration.
Working in English and Arabic, she has directed productions for the Rose Theatre Kingston, Theatre503, The Albany and King’s Head Theatre. Layla has worked as an assistant and associate director at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Young Vic and the Almeida Theatre. Her film work has been selected for the BFI London Film Festival and Sheffield DocFest.
Credits
Direction Layla Madanat Conception + Performance Mudar Alhaggi, Amal Omran, Wael Kadour, Mohammad Alrashi Lighting + Design Jonas Vogt Sound Elias Aboud Production Svea Menne Production Assistant Wissam Atfah International Development + Touring Eckhard Thiemann Creation euro-scene Leipzig, 6. November 2026
Commissioned Production Theater an der Ruhr and euro-scene Leipzig Production Collective Ma’louba Co-production Theater an der Ruhr, euro-scene Leipzig Funding Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen Support Schauspiel Leipzig / Residenz
https://www.eckhardthiemann.com/home#malouba
Main Supporters
euro-scene leipzig is institutionally supported by the City of Leipzig and the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Culture and Tourism. Co-financed by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.