The deeply personal and experiential work of renowned Lebanese-Canadian playwright, director and actor Wajdi Mouawad, titled Mother, is being presented for the first time in Cyprus at THOC’s New Stage.

The play’s performances will begin on Friday and continue every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Nicosia with performances in Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos and the Famagusta district coming up in February.

In Mother (written in 2021), Mouawad revisits themes of displacement, the trauma of war memories, and their complex pathways, sharing his own lived experience. It is a dive into the author’s recollections and how they are distorted by time, teetering between reality and fiction, with his mother at the forefront, facing war and inevitable uprooting.

The memory of his mother is reconstructed in an apartment in Paris, where the Mouawad family settled for five years in the late 1970s due to the Lebanese civil war. For her, this space is a temporary refuge, from which she eagerly anticipates departing each month to return to Beirut. A return to her roots that is constantly deferred, alongside a trauma that grows ever larger, the effects of which are felt by her youngest son.

The narrative weaves the tragedy of exile with the internal struggles of family life, creating a tapestry of profound human questions about maternal love, loss, war, its misery and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.

Director Maria Mannaridou-Karseira approaches the play as a journey through fragments of memory, where the characters discover the limits of their endurance. Supported by a unique team of collaborators and actors, she brings out the interplay of personal and collective trauma, realism and dream, and the confrontation between past and present.

The audience is invited on a poetic and emotional journey, imbued with nostalgia, humour and tenderness – a tribute to mothers, to life itself, and a heartfelt declaration of love for Lebanon and its culture.

Although the play is performed in Greek, two performances will have surtitles in other languages. On January 31 and February 15, performances will have English and Turkish surtitles, while on February 1 the performance will have Greek surtitles.

After the play wraps up its shows in Nicosia on February 2 a discussion with the actors and production team will follow. Then a tour will begin. On February 12, Mother will be presented in Larnaca, on February 15 in Limassol, on February 19 in Sotira and on February 21 in Paphos.

Mother

Wajdi Mouawad’s play directed by Maria Mannaridou-Karseira. January 10-February 2. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. New Stage Nikos Charalambous, THOC, Nicosia. 8pm and 6pm on Sundays. In Greek. www.thoc.org.cy