Mohamed Fellag

Mohand Fellag in Arabic محمد فلاق in Berber ⴼⴻⵍⵍⴰⴳ known as Mohamed Fellag or simply Fellag or sometimes Mohamed Saïd Fellag is an Algerian actor humorist and writer born March 31 1950 in Azeffoun in Algeria Mohamed Fellag ⴼⴻⵍⵍⴰⴳ in Tifinagh was born in Azeffoun in Kabylia He only spoke Kabyle until the family moved to Algiers when he was eight years old He then learned Algerian Arabic and French His father an FLN activist during the war was killed in a car accident in 1965 during a mission he was 15 He studied theater at the National Institute of Dramatic and Choreographic Art of Algiers located in Bordj el Kiffan from 1968 to 1972 He left the National Theater and founded his company with former students They write texts go on tour play in prisons factories etc He emigrated to Quebec in 1978 then to Paris in 1982 living from small jobs In September 1985 he returned to Algeria and was hired by the Algerian National Theater to perform The Art of Comedy by Eduardo De Filippo He worked as an actor and director and began writing his texts including his first show Les Aventures de Tchop in 1986 He became a star thanks to performances mixing Berber Arabic and French In 1991 Babor Australia was created in Kabyle then performed in Algerian Arabic in Paris At the Théâtre de lEurope in 1992 it was performed alternately in Kabyle and Algerian Arabic Babor Australia updated to A boat for Australia in 2002 is based on a rumor evoking the imminent arrival in Algiers of an Australian boat supposed to take unemployed people to provide them with employment and accommodation there which caused a queue in front of the Australian embassy He directed the Béjaïa theater for a while in 1992939 The Algerian Civil War broke out Fellag went on tour in 1994 with Babor Australia in Algeria then in Tunisia At the end of the year he settled in Tunis where he created Delirium In 1995 he went into exile in Paris He writes there Djurdjurassique Bled which is represented alternately in Kabyle and Algerian Arabic Then he adapted it into French and this first show in French created in December 1997 earned him the 19971998 Critics Union Prize theatrical revelation of the year Fellag lived with the actress Marianne Épin who died on December 9 2017 who staged several of his last shows