Zaffé begins as we walk into a space aglow with candles, strung haphazardly with coloured bulbs, flowers on the long tables, a bridal table decorated with a tower of blooms. This is a wedding reception, a celebration.
The audience is immediately assumed to be the vast extended population of the town where the wedding is being held. At each place, there is a card with a question written inside, different for each guest – it’s an immediate conversation-starter, and we are off and running, waiting for the festivities to begin.
When they do it’s exuberant from the first minute – calls and responses in Arabic bounce across the crowd. We are introduced to the idea that celebration is the order of the day – music, drums, clapping, dancing – we are drawn into the excitement of the event.
This group-devised work has evolved over time, having first appeared on the Melbourne Fringe in 2023. There are personal stories from each member of the Zaffé team woven throughout, some provocative ideas born of experiences in countries where life is upheaved and scary, and people are forced to be resourceful, cheeky and hard-eyed in the face of authority.
We witness quite a bit of social comment along the way – weddings all over the world have the same elements of family tensions, last-minute hitches, increasingly lurid gossip, slightly daggy wrangling of the ‘what happens next?’ moments. And, of course, there’s a wayward uncle who has some ideas and wares to sell, who hogs the mic for several hilarious, thought-provoking minutes.
It’s all entirely real and endearing and touching. And the lights strung inelegantly above our heads are a reminder of how unreliable the power supply may be at any moment.
Zaffé is a reflection on how people deal with uncertain times and events and still manage to celebrate life in the face of death and destruction. Each of the group has lived through and is connected to the attacks on Lebanon and Syria, in the Middle East, and the resulting chaos and removal of certainty in their lives, in the smallest, most mundane ways. In the midst of this people still fall in love, make coffee, marry, bicker, put a good face on things for the ‘Kodak moment’, and enjoy each appeal to their minds and senses while they may: Ayman Kaake’s memory of his grandma, always fragrant with jasmine, while he prepares cardamom-flavoured coffee on a small burner; Jean Bouchara evoking the universally recognisable ‘loose cannon’ uncle telling practical, hard-won home truths; Taj Aldeeb singing ramshackle covers of well-known standards; Salma Zahore teaching us all to belly dance to assorted, sometimes unrecognisably disco’d-up hits of the 90s.
Zaffé is a reminder that living in Australia, the largest island, with no land borders to cause arguments, is a gift, but it makes us complacent about simple, unquestioned externals such as guaranteed electricity. The heart of the piece is about the humanity in everyone, dealing with whatever roadblocks, real and metaphorical, are thrown in our way. It’s an energetic show of resistance – funny, observant and generous. And there is even wedding cake.
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The evening draws to a close with us all being led outside into North Melbourne streets, with no formal end, no applause, no ‘we put this show on for you’. It is the end of the party, making clear that it’s a fierce affirmation of Life winning, no matter what, and that we have been guests at so much more than just a wedding reception.
A must-see.
Zaffé
Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall
Concept and Director: Stéphanie Ghajar
Producers: Lara Week and Stéphanie Ghajar
Creators: Taj Aldeeb, Jean Bachoura, Rawya El Chab, Camille El Feghali, Stéphanie Ghajar, Ayman Kaake, Julia Landberg, Meena Shamaly, Mia Shouha, Salma Zahore and Lara Week
Scenic Designers: Ayman Kaake and Lara Week
Sound Designers and Composers: Meena Shamaly and Camille El Feghali
Stage Manager: Jessica Smart
Performers: Taj Aldeeb, Jean Bachoura, Rawya El Chab, Camille El Feghali, Stéphanie Ghajar, Ayman Kaake, Meena Shamaly, Mia Shouha, Jessica Smart and Salma Zahore
Tickets: $10-$35
Zaffé will be performed until 30 November 2024.
