German-born Syrian/Canadian writer/director and actor, Corinne Jaber is a Molière-award winning performer (Best Actress, 2001) and a distinguished director; her productions of Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Comedy of Errors made international headlines in 2005 and 2012 respectively for their ground-breaking work with actors from post-Taliban Kabul. Jaber is currently touring Oh My Sweet Land, a one-woman play about the crisis in Syria described by The Observer as “both an intense theatrical experience, and an important act of bearing witness”.

Jaber will talk about this work, and about her plans for a forthcoming collaboration with Warwick, as part of the Department of English and Comparative Literature’s research seminar series. The 45-minute talk starts at 1pm and a buffet lunch will be provided. We are particularly keen to welcome colleagues and postgraduate students from across the university who may be interested in collaborating on Jaber’s next project, a play about memories of the Partition of India.

On the evening of 17 October there will also be a free screening of Jaber’s Afghan production of The Comedy of Errors in H0.52, preceded by a 15-minute Q&A with the director. (103 minutes, in Dari Persian with English subtitles.)

“Everyone on stage seems to be having a riot, and the final scene – a bewildering series of rabbit-out-of-the-hat revelations, the entire family suddenly reunited against all the odds – is handled with moving enthusiasm… ««««” (Andrew Dickson, The Guardian)

These events are funded by the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, the Partners in Performance network, and the Humanities Research Centre. Jaber will also be running a workshop for undergraduate students in the afternoon.