Batna – The audience in Batna showed great enthusiasm for the theatrical performance “The Last Step” by the National Professional Theatre of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was staged last Wednesday night at the Mohamed Laid Al-Khalifa Cultural Center in Batna.
For an hour, the audience attentively followed the events of this play, which was produced by the Algerian National Theatre in collaboration with the Regional Theatre of Sidi Bel Abbès and the National Professional Theatre of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
The play depicts the Sahrawi people’s resistance against the occupiers, highlighting their relentless struggle to defend their land and fight for self-determination. The central character, Dahiba, embodies this resistance with her fierce defiance against the invading enemy soldiers, enduring imprisonment and the most brutal forms of psychological and physical torture.
Batna was the first stop in a tour of this theatrical performance across the eastern provinces of Algeria, as explained by the Director of the Sahrawi National Theatre, Mouna Mohamed Salem, to the Algerian News Agency (APS). She emphasized that “The Last Step” narrates the suffering of the Sahrawi people in the occupied territories, their oppression, and the resilience and resistance of Sahrawi women in preserving their people’s identity, customs, and traditions, as well as the cohesion of Sahrawi society.
According to the director, the play is part of an agreement between the Algerian Ministry of Culture and Arts and the Sahrawi Ministry of Culture to enhance cultural cooperation, which includes the establishment of a professional Sahrawi National Theatre. The tour has already taken the cast to several western Algerian provinces, and they are expected to perform in several eastern cities, including Oum El Bouaghi, Skikda, El Eulma, and Constantine.
This performance, which is part of revolutionary or resistance theatre, was directed by Issa Djaghati, based on a script by Idriss Ghergoura, with choreography by Riad Berwal, scenography by Youssef Abbadi, and music by Mohamed Zami. It was produced in 2023 and first presented in January.
