Ordalie
A staged reading
Ibsen Scope Grant winner 2019
Having witnessed the failure of Lebanese governance in the wake of the civil war, four actors, disillusioned with the traditional, idyllic representation of the adopted national model, decide to create a form of trial by ordeal in the hope of ending the cycle of destruction and impunity in which they grew up. For one night, they will believe in their salvation. From witnesses, they will strive to become actors of change. Based on Henrik Ibsen’s last historical play The Pretenders, Ordalie questions the post-war generation’s relationship with the ruin of their country and the legacy of a status quo with the appearance of civil peace. Ordalie premiered in 2023, at Théâtre des Célestins in Lyon as part of Festival Sens’Interdits. Following its successful debut, it embarked on an extensive European tour, captivating audiences and garnering critical acclaim. For the Ibsen Scope Festival, an adapted staged reading will be presented to share the work with the audience and offer insight into the creative process.
At the heart of her work is an urgent need to reconstruct a form of collective memory. Chrystèle Khodr takes inspiration from The Pretenders by Ibsen to highlight the social and political situation in Lebanon, her mother country.
In The Pretenders, Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) looks back at the twenty-year civil war that led to peace being re-established in Norway in the 13th century. Ordalie begins at the end of a production of this historic work played by four Lebanese actors. However, the moment of calm and togetherness that they are lulled into by this theatrical happy ending does not last long.
Taking inspiration from the characters they have just been playing, the four men try to break the cycle of tragedy and impunity that has been part of their everyday lives ever since they were children. Over the course of one night, they begin to believe in salvation, in the future. They decide to protect a pile of ruins from the bulldozers which are set to raze it to the ground at daybreak. They will fight to defend this place, which contains proof that a war crime has been committed, with everything they have.
Chrystèle Khodr is a theater performer, playwright, and director based in Beirut.
Her work springs from an urgency to reconstitute collective memory through personal stories. Over the years, she has explored this question across multiple performance forms – from intimate solo pieces to large ensemble works, as well as installations and listening experiences. She approaches her projects as a form of research, experimenting with theater as a medium capable of holding memory, transforming testimony, and engaging with history. In her most recent creations, Chrystèle has focused on how the currents of history shape temporal experience and narrative construction, treating time and storytelling as fundamental frameworks through which theater can probe the recurrence of historical events.
Concept, text and direction: Chrystèle Khodr
Performers: Rodrigue Sleiman – Élie Njeim – Roy Dib – Tarek Yacoub
Set & light design: Nadim Deaibes
Music & sound design: Ziad Moukarzel
Chrystèle Khodr was awarded the Ibsen Scope and subsequently wrote and directed Ordalie, a work inspired by Henrik Ibsen’s The Pretenders. The play premiered in 2023. Following its successful debut, Ordalie embarked on an extensive European tour, captivating audiences and garnering critical acclaim.
