Tayeb Saddiki

Tayeb Saddiki (5 january 1939; 5 February 2016) was a Moroccan playwright, writing in both Arabic and French.^[1] He was born in Essaouira and grew up in Casablanca in a neighborhood between el Habous and l'Hermitage. After training courses with André Voisin, at the age of 17 he went abroaod 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). 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.^[2] He founded several theatre companies, Firqat Saddiki / Saddiki's troup, 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 Fondation)

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  Tayeb Saddiki - 2004

Biography^[3]

• 1953 - Stage of Dramatic Art at Maâmora (Morocco), Interpretation Award / Direction André Voisin and Charles Nugue
• 1954 - First contract with Moroccan theater troupe / la troupe du théâtre marocain, the first professional troupe in Morocco
• 1956 - Workshop at Centre Dramatique de l’Ouest – C.D.O , Rennes - Direction Hubert Gignoux
• 1957 - Works at the National Popular Theater (Théâtre National Populaire) - T.N.P in Paris, Direction Jean Vilar
• 1957-1958 - Founder of the Workers' theater (Al Masrah Al Oummali), Morocco
• 1959 - Training course at the Center Dramatique de l'Est - D.E, Direction Hubert Gignoux
• 1960 - Study Tour Berliner Ensemble - Germany, Direction Hélène Weigel - Bertolt Brecht's theatre company
• 1960 - Founder of The troupe of the Municipal Theater / (La troupe du Théâtre Municipal), Casablanca, Morocco
• 1963 - Founder of Firqat Saddiki / Saddiki's troup, Morocco
• 1964 - Artistic director of the Mohamed V theater (théâtre national Mohammed-V), Rabat
• 1967-1969 - Member of the executive committee of Institut International du Théâtre, I.T.I – UNESCO
• 1964-1977 - Director of the municipal theater of Casablanca (théâtre municipal de Casablanca), Casablanca, Morocco
• 1970-1977 - Founder of Café-théâtre, Théâtre Municipal de Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco
• 1970 - Founder of Masrah Ennas / People's Theater, Casablanca, Morocco
• 1974 - Founder of Al Masrah Al Jawal / Traveling theater, Casablanca, Morocco
• 1980 - Founder of Essaouira Festival Music first / la musique d'abord
• 1980 - 1982 - Responsible at the Ministry of Tourism, Casablanca, Morocco
• 1984-1986 - Television is moving (Attalfaza Tataharrak), S.N.R.T, program to revamp Moroccan television programs, Morocco
• 1997 - Founder of the Espace Tayeb Saddiki (Mogador Theater), Casablanca, Morocco

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  Tayeb Saddiki awarded by His Majesty the king Mohammed VI- 2005

Distinctions

Country	Decoration	Year
Morocco	Ouissam al-Massira / the medal of the march, awarded by the king Hassan II	1976
France	Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres / Knight of Arts and Letters	1979
France	Officier des Arts et des Lettres / Officer of Arts and Letters	1983
Tunisia	Price of the first work at Carthage Film Days (journées cinématographiques de Carthage) for his film Zeft	1984
Morocco	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, 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

• 
  The king Mohammed V- 1956

Cinema actor

• 1955 : Le Poulet (The Chicken) , Jean Fléchet
• 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
• 1960: Les fourberies Scapin, Cinema adaptation of Fourberies of Scapin of Molière (in Arabic),Mahieddine Bachtarzi (Algeria)
• 1962: Tartarin De Tarascon, Francis Blanche
• 1962: The children of the sun (Les enfants du soleil), Jacques Severac Cannes Film Festival of 1962 (official selection)
• 1962: Lawrence of Arabia, Devid Lean
• 1977: Arrissala (The Message), Mostapha Akkad
• 1984: Zeft (Ashphalte), by Tayeb Saddiki
• 1986: The child of the sand (L’enfant du sable), Hamid Bénani
• 1995: The Prayer of the Absentee (La prière de l’absent), Hamid Bénani
• 2001: Assir Al Matrouz (the man who embroidered secrets), Omar Chraïbi
• 2008: Voyage court mais trash (Short but trashy trip), Short film by Raja Saddiki

Scenarios and productions

Plays

• Ammi Zalt
  • Original work: Bonhomme Misère
  • Staging and dramatic rewriting : André Voisin
  • Adaptation: Ahmed Taïeb El Alj
  • Language : Arabic
• Maâlem Azzouz
  • Original work: Le Barbier de Séville, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
  • Adaptation: Ataa Ouakil (Abdessamad Kenfaoui, Tahar Ouaâziz and Ahmed Taïeb El Alj)
  • Stage direction: André Voisin
  • Language : Arabic

References