Ben Ali featured in Tunisian Macbeth

TUNISIA: Two years after the revolution, a Tunisian version of Macbeth is parodying deposed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, cast in the mould of William Shakespeare’s notorious villain alongside his scheming wife.

“Macbeth, Leila and Ben”, which premiered in Tunis last week, revisits 30 years of autocratic rule that finally led to Ben Ali’s ouster in January 2011, while taking a swipe at the ruling Islamists who succeeded him. The play begins its tour of Tunisia as the government struggles to pull itself out of the worst political crisis since Ben Ali’s downfall and flight to the Saudi city of Jeddah where he lives in gilded exile with his wife Leila Trebelsi.

In the loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, performed in Tunisian Arabic, director Lotfi Achour questions how Ben Ali managed to stay in power for so long.

“It’s true that we want to say, after the revolution, that the people are wonderful when in fact they were partly responsible,” says actress Anissa Daoud, who co-authored the play.

Macbeth, the ruthlessly ambitious Scottish lord, and his heartless wife Lady Macbeth are replaced by “MacZine” Ben Ali and Leila, depicted as a cruel and ridiculous couple, clinging to power at all costs, and with blood on their hands.

The play unfolds in a stark and sombre setting, alternating between the tragedy of torture and murder and scenes of black comedy, where the Ben Alis are surrounded by a sycophantic entourage desperately seeking to curry favour.

AFP