Poetics of Confrontation

Abstract

This paper analyses the poetics of confrontation used by theatre director Fadhel Jaibi,particularly through his performance Yahia-Yaïh-Amnesia. It uses Michel DeCerteau's conceptof 'tactic' and 'strategy' from his book, The Practice of Everyday Life, as a framework for analysisin order to show how Jaibi used performance as his tactic to oppose the regime's strategies inpre-revolutionary Tunisia, creating thereby a poetics of confrontation to challenge both theregime and the people who were subjected to it. It shows how Jaibi constructed the elementsunderpinning his poetic sof performance by fusing the texts produced by Jalila Baccar with thephysical work of the actors, playing particularly on rhythms of speech, action and sound. Itexplains how Jaibi integrated these elements into a politics of confrontation which includedthe audience. It discusses how, through his artistic work, Jaibi obliged the audience to confrontthe prevailing repressive reality as well as society's acceptance of the existing political situationand social norms. His poetics of confrontation targeted a change in perception, which rejectedthe limits imposed by the regime and coercive social forces in favour of democracy,anticipating and accompanying the social upheaval provoked by the Tunisian revolution in2011.