Tayeb Saddiki (
Arabic: الطيب الصديقي; 5 January 1939 – 5 February 2016) was a Moroccan
theatre director and one of the most iconic and prominent Arab artists, and is considered among the foremost Arab dramatists of the twentieth century.[2] Trained in classical Western theater, Saddiki also embraced traditional Moroccan theatrical styles, fusing the two into a path-breaking combination of Western and traditional Moroccan theater. Known for staging spectacles played to large crowds in big arenas, Saddiki developed a style of festive theater that became a popular in the Arab world.
He is a pioneer of Arab theater, an actor and a film director, but he was also an award-winning author writing in both Arabic and French.[3] From a family of scholars, he was born in
Essaouira and grew up in
Casablanca. After training courses with
André Voisin, at the age of 17 he went abroad to France to study theater at Comédie de l'Ouest - CDO, directed by Hubert Gignoux. Back in
Morocco, together with the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) he founded a Workers' theater / Al Masrah Al Oummali (1957). After that, he returned to France to further study theater tecnics at the TNP -the National Popular Theater in Paris-, under the direction of
Jean Vilar.
At 23, he became artistic director of the Mohamed V theater (théâtre national Mohammed-V). After that he worked as director of the municipal theater of Casablanca (théâtre municipal de Casablanca) from 1964 to 1977.[4]
He founded several theatre companies: Firqat Saddiki / Saddiki's troupe, Al Masrah Al Jawal / Traveling theater, Masrah Ennas / People's Theater and also his own cultural center at
Casablanca, Espace Tayeb Saddiki (Tayeb Saddiki's center) at the boulevard Gandhi in
Casablanca.
(Source :
Tayeb Saddiki Foundation)
Ouissam al-Kafaâ al-Fikria / The Medal of Intellectual Competence, décerné par le Roi
Mohammed VI
2005
Works
Theater director: more than eighty works
Repertory: has written thirty two plays (in Arabic and French), translation and adaptation of thirty-four dramatic works, eighteen co-written works
Actor: in about fifty plays, a dozen movies and thirty five dramatic works and television shows
Painter Calligrapher: Exhibitions in Morocco and Tunisia, Kuwait, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, France, Canada, Belgium, Algeria ...
Cinema: directed four short films and a movie (Zeft - 1984), wrote and directed a dozen documentaries and played in a dozen films
Television: produced and directed for television thirty shows
Television is moving (Attalfaza Tataharrak)": program to redesign programs of the Moroccan television
SNRT (1984-1986)
Other:
Participated to the researches and writing of the book: Morocco and Traditional Islamic Crafts in Architecture (Le Maroc et l'Artisanat Traditionnel Islamique dans l'Architecture / Le Paccard) - 2 volumes, Author : André Paccard, Edition: Workshop 74, 1986
Prefacier of the book: Mogador, my love (Mogador, mon amour), Author: Marcel Crespil, Illustrator: William Olegini, Edition: Casablanca: EDDIF, 1990
Illustrator of the book: Freshness of Islam (Fraîcheur de l'Islam), Author: Gabriel Bounoure (1886-1969), Edition: Saint-Clément-la-Rivière:
Éditions Fata Morgana [
fr], 1995
Contributed to the writing of the book Moroccan Civilization, Arts and Cultures (Civilisation Marocaine, Arts et Cultures), under the direction of
Mohamed Sijelmassi, editions OUM and Actes Sud / Sindbad, 1996
1956 : Le médecin malgré lui (Toubib Al Affia), Directed by
Henry Jacques, adapted from
Molière, presented at Cannes festival in 1956 (official selection)
1957 : Brahim ou le collier de beignets (Brahim or the necklace of donuts), by Jean Fléchet, Presented at the
Berlin Festival (1957)
1959: Loqmat Aïch (for a bite of bread), by
Larbi Bennani
Tayeb Saddiki (
Arabic: الطيب الصديقي; 5 January 1939 – 5 February 2016) was a Moroccan
theatre director and one of the most iconic and prominent Arab artists, and is considered among the foremost Arab dramatists of the twentieth century.[2] Trained in classical Western theater, Saddiki also embraced traditional Moroccan theatrical styles, fusing the two into a path-breaking combination of Western and traditional Moroccan theater. Known for staging spectacles played to large crowds in big arenas, Saddiki developed a style of festive theater that became a popular in the Arab world.
He is a pioneer of Arab theater, an actor and a film director, but he was also an award-winning author writing in both Arabic and French.[3] From a family of scholars, he was born in
Essaouira and grew up in
Casablanca. After training courses with
André Voisin, at the age of 17 he went abroad to France to study theater at Comédie de l'Ouest - CDO, directed by Hubert Gignoux. Back in
Morocco, together with the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) he founded a Workers' theater / Al Masrah Al Oummali (1957). After that, he returned to France to further study theater tecnics at the TNP -the National Popular Theater in Paris-, under the direction of
Jean Vilar.
At 23, he became artistic director of the Mohamed V theater (théâtre national Mohammed-V). After that he worked as director of the municipal theater of Casablanca (théâtre municipal de Casablanca) from 1964 to 1977.[4]
He founded several theatre companies: Firqat Saddiki / Saddiki's troupe, Al Masrah Al Jawal / Traveling theater, Masrah Ennas / People's Theater and also his own cultural center at
Casablanca, Espace Tayeb Saddiki (Tayeb Saddiki's center) at the boulevard Gandhi in
Casablanca.
(Source :
Tayeb Saddiki Foundation)
Ouissam al-Kafaâ al-Fikria / The Medal of Intellectual Competence, décerné par le Roi
Mohammed VI
2005
Works
Theater director: more than eighty works
Repertory: has written thirty two plays (in Arabic and French), translation and adaptation of thirty-four dramatic works, eighteen co-written works
Actor: in about fifty plays, a dozen movies and thirty five dramatic works and television shows
Painter Calligrapher: Exhibitions in Morocco and Tunisia, Kuwait, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, France, Canada, Belgium, Algeria ...
Cinema: directed four short films and a movie (Zeft - 1984), wrote and directed a dozen documentaries and played in a dozen films
Television: produced and directed for television thirty shows
Television is moving (Attalfaza Tataharrak)": program to redesign programs of the Moroccan television
SNRT (1984-1986)
Other:
Participated to the researches and writing of the book: Morocco and Traditional Islamic Crafts in Architecture (Le Maroc et l'Artisanat Traditionnel Islamique dans l'Architecture / Le Paccard) - 2 volumes, Author : André Paccard, Edition: Workshop 74, 1986
Prefacier of the book: Mogador, my love (Mogador, mon amour), Author: Marcel Crespil, Illustrator: William Olegini, Edition: Casablanca: EDDIF, 1990
Illustrator of the book: Freshness of Islam (Fraîcheur de l'Islam), Author: Gabriel Bounoure (1886-1969), Edition: Saint-Clément-la-Rivière:
Éditions Fata Morgana [
fr], 1995
Contributed to the writing of the book Moroccan Civilization, Arts and Cultures (Civilisation Marocaine, Arts et Cultures), under the direction of
Mohamed Sijelmassi, editions OUM and Actes Sud / Sindbad, 1996
1956 : Le médecin malgré lui (Toubib Al Affia), Directed by
Henry Jacques, adapted from
Molière, presented at Cannes festival in 1956 (official selection)
1957 : Brahim ou le collier de beignets (Brahim or the necklace of donuts), by Jean Fléchet, Presented at the
Berlin Festival (1957)
1959: Loqmat Aïch (for a bite of bread), by
Larbi Bennani