Tunis, November 22 (Petra) – The 26th edition of the Carthage Theatre Days festival opened Saturday evening at the City of Culture in Tunis, with Jordan participating in the official competition with two plays.

The two plays Jordan is participating with are "The Shelter," directed by Sawsan Darouze, and "Hammam Al-Hana," directed by Hisham Sweidan, featured in the Arab and African performances section.

This year's festival, which runs until November 29, showcases 125 performances from 32 countries. The jury selected 12 productions to compete in the official competition.

The Arab and African performances section comprises six plays, among them the Jordanian production "Hammam Al-Hana." The World Theatre section presents 15 plays, in addition to works staged by correctional institutions and performances dedicated to children.

The festival's intellectual programme features workshops on directing, theatre criticism and "action" as the essence of theatrical performance across three dimensions: physical, psychological and verbal.

Additional workshops address the basics of improvisation and the process of transforming scripts from page to stage. This edition will, for the first time, include the International Theatre Forum, held from November 24 to 26 under the theme "The Theatre Artist: His Time and Works." Following the opening ceremony, audiences attended a performance of "King Lear," starring renowned Arab actor Yehia El-Fakharany, directed by Shady Srour and produced by the Egyptian National Theatre.

//Petra// AK