Performance and social activism in Morocco: The legacy of Fatima Chebchoub

Abstract

North Africa has a long and rich history of using satire as a tool of dissent, although those practices slowly died out during the colonisation period. Fatima Chebchoub, a Moroccan academic and theatre-maker, was one of the few contemporary directors to use traditional performance practices, and the only trained female hlayqia, coming from a family of storytellers. Chebchoub was a real pioneer, often performing one-woman shows on sensitive issues such as female sexuality and transgressing social boundaries to take on a variety of personas. At the centre of her large repertoire was comicality: in a country where a harsh censorship was still in place, Chebchoub was able to use humour to deflect attention and make political statements despite risks to her safety. Her performances, including enacting men on stage and challenging Morocco’s patriarchal system, were deeply subversive in a conservative environment. In the tradition of Vizenor’s trickster, Chebchoub used performance to engage with society and open dialogues. Both in her professional and private life, she refused to conform and continuously criticised the dominant paradigm, reclaiming a voice for women as well as for impoverished and marginalised parts of Moroccan society. I examine the strategies used by Chebchoub to address controversial issues while drawing from the local performance heritage, and discuss how her legacy lives on through the work of other female performers in Morocco. In particular, popular comedian Hanane Fadili and theatre companies such as the feminist troupe Théâtre Aquarium use humour and satire to challenge oppressive traditions and promote the emancipation of women. Their role in the context of democratic transition is important: they create alternative models of womanhood and identity, and they campaign against corruption and domestic violence using theatre as a tool for change.