French Theater Icon Wajdi Mouawad Debuts in Taipei with Two Acclaimed Works

Invited by the Taipei Arts Festival, renowned French-language theater director Wajdi Mouawad set foot on Taiwan's stage for the first time this month. The playwright, best known as the original author of *Incendies*, is presenting two of his representative works, *Littoral* (Seaside) and *Seuls* (Alone), forging a moving epic of life rooted in his background of exile. This trip marks not only Mouawad's first personal encounter with Taiwanese audiences, but also brings deep cross-cultural dialogue to the local theater scene.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1966, Mouawad spent his childhood amid the ravages of civil war. The flames of war forced him and his family onto a path of exile at the age of ten, settling successively in France and Canada. Years of wandering experience enabled him to switch fluently between French and English. In the 1990s, he founded the "Theatre de la Licorne" in Montreal and later served as the artistic director of the Théâtre National de la Colline in Paris. His creative work has received frequent international acclaim. Aside from *Incendies* being adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Denis Villeneuve, he has also won the French Molière Award and the Governor General's Literary Award in Canada, making him a leading figure in contemporary French-language theater.

Mouawad's scripts often take blood-linked family histories as their main axis, exploring the intersection of war, memory, and identity. The widely known *Incendies* is set against the backdrop of bloody Middle Eastern conflicts, revealing hidden trauma through the dialogue of two generations. *Littoral* uses the coastline as a metaphor, depicting the confrontation between exiles and nature and history in their search for belonging. *Seuls* focuses on the loneliness of individuals walking alone through the fissures between society and the self. His theatrical language combines poetry with raw impact, often intertwining physical movement with multimedia to create a nearly ritualistic viewing experience.

In these performances for the Taipei Arts Festival, *Littoral* uses the "sea" as a metaphor for displacement, presenting the struggles of immigrants seeking roots in a foreign land. *Seuls* uses the inner monologue of a single character to explore the powerlessness of the individual within the torrent of history. Both works have been staged multiple times in Europe and North America, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. To adapt to the context of Taiwanese audiences, the organizers specially invited local translators and directors to study the scripts together, ensuring the precise transmission of language and emotion while giving Taiwanese actors the opportunity to collaborate directly with Mouawad and experience his unique rehearsal methods.

Mouawad's arrival holds multi-layered significance for Taiwanese theater. First, as a creator whose core issues are exile and identity, his works resonate with Taiwan's historical memories spanning from the February 28 Incident and the White Terror to the diverse ethnic groups of contemporary society. Second, Mouawad's transnational creative model aligns with the international theater collaborations promoted by Taiwan in recent years, providing a window for learning and exchange for local troupes. Finally, through such high-level artistic programming, audiences are able to re-examine individual and collective memories within the theater space, further deepening the breadth and depth of public discussion.

In summary, Mouawad's debut on Taiwan's stage is not merely an artistic performance, but a cross-cultural dialogue on exile, memory, and identity. With the staging of *Littoral* and *Seuls* in Taipei, audiences will have the opportunity to experience in the theater the epic tension forged from war and displacement, while allowing Taiwan's theatrical ecosystem to gain new resonance and inspiration within a global context.