Rabih Mroué (1967) is an actor, director, and playwright whose multimedia work diverts traditional modes of theatre into new relationships between performer and audience. In 1990 he began putting on his own plays, performances, and videos, winning international recognition with L’Abat-jour (1990), The Lift (1993), Extension 19 (1997).
Continuously searching for new and contemporary relations among all the different elements and languages of the theatre art forms, Rabih Mroué questions the definitions of theatre and the relationship between space and form of the performance and, consequently, questions how the performer relates with the audience. His works deal with the issues that have been swept under the table in the current political climate of Lebanon. He draws much-needed attention to the broader political and economic contexts by means of a semi-documentary theatre…. From theatre practice to politics, and from the problem of representations to his private life, his search for ‘truth’ begins via documents, photos, and found objects, fabricating other documents, other ‘truths’: it is as if the work becomes a dissection table for the dubious processes of Lebanon's war society.
"He deviates theatre from its natural course, trying out new means and novel techniques, swimming against the current, moving away from what we have already seen. Within the framework of contemporary Arab theatre. He goes towards the non-theatre, the non-play, in order to grace us with rare moments of “theatre”, of “theatricality”, and moments of communication. Rabih Mroué tries to tell us that from now on, theatre is elsewhere." (Pierre Abi Saab, theatre critic and chief editor of the Lebanese cultural magazine Zawaya).
Rabih Mroué works in Beirut at Future TV as a writer and director of short animation films and documentaries. His theatre productions have been presented at many international festivals across Europe. Among his work: Three Posters (2000), Red Dead Zone (2000) with Feyrouz Serhal, Biokhraphia (2002) with Lina Saneh, Face A / Face B (2001), Looking For a Missing Employee (2004), Who's Afraid of Representation (2005), How Nancy Wished That Everything Was an April Fool’s Joke (2007).