Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah
Thursday, 3 December 2026 at 19:00 · Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Lisbon · €10–€37.5
Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah, or The Epic of Bani Hilal, is a legendary Arab saga, transmitted orally since the 14th century. Often called the "Arab Iliad", it has survived centuries but today risks disappearing, preserved only by a handful of poets from Egypt. The Khashabi Theatre presents the migration of the Bani Hilal tribe from Najd, in the Arabian Peninsula, to Tunisia. The show follows the extraordinary life of Abu Zaid al-Hilali, a boy exiled due to his skin color, who becomes one of the most famous legends of the Arabs. Bashar Murkus rewrote the text based on rare documentation and recordings of the ancestral poets who sang the saga. The words merge with the aesthetics of Palestinian folklore and Arab performance styles. The staging recovers ancient theatrical techniques and imagines how they could have evolved free from the influence of Western conventions and European colonialism. On stage, young performers use songs, dance, shadow theatre, and puppets to create a show full of music, images, and poetry.