Fadhel Jaïbi

He is an old theatre hand, having previously stormed through many a stage in the Maghreb, the Far East and Europe, whose career has earned him in 2017 one of the most prestigious awards, the Europe Theatre Prize. Besides many theatrical directions, he has also made three motion pictures, all of them the result of long research work. He is one of the pivotal figures of the contemporary Arab theatre. He founded the Gafsa ensemble in 1972, was the director of the Tunisian Theatre Academy from 1974 to 1978, co-founder of his homeland’s first independent theatre, “Le Nouveau Théâtre” in 1976 and in 1993 of Family Productions. Both as artist and manager he has consistently opposed the commercialisation of theatre and always favoured artistic excellence. In the words of Antoine Vitez, he heads his own theatre based on the principle of “elite theatre for everybody”, is equally recognised from Tunis to Beirut, from Damascus to Cairo. In the past twenty years, Europe has been increasingly paying attention to Jaïbi’s teaching methods. He has hosted many workshops across the continent, including Milan’s Piccolo Teatro in Milan. In 2002, he was the first Arab director to invited to the Avignon Festival and Festspiele Berlin. Since July 2014 he is the director of the National Theatre of Tunisia, within which he has established a drama school and a Young National Theatre.