Documentary shows behind scenes of the comedy world: “M… (Antwerp)
We meet Dara Sheikhi in a coffee bar in the heart of Antwerp where he tells his story with a warm smile. Not immediately a story that you think fits into a comedy format. Yet. As a newcomer comedy artist, Sheikhi knows how to tell his experiences in a good way.
Ever since his arrival in Belgium in 2015, Sheikhi has been seeking refuge on stage. “I fled the war in Syria six years ago,” he starts off, a steaming cup of coffee between his hands. “I lived in Aleppo with my parents, brother and sister. I started biochemistry there and worked for a medical company for a while. My brother left alone. Me with my sister, her husband and baby. Via the popular route”, he smiles. “To Turkey and from there via a boat with more than thirty people to Greece and then Serbia, Hungary, Germany and finally Belgium.”
Today his sister lives in Germany, his brother in Turnhout and his parents still have horses in Aleppo. “It’s unsafe there. There is a lack of food, water and electricity. I hear them every day but haven’t seen them in eight years, as have the rest of my family. That’s difficult. People get married, people die and I miss all those important moments.”
Love for the stage
He himself ended up in the asylum center of Kapellen. “I was there for nine months. I made friends with some other refugees from Syria and Iraq. Together we decided to make a theater performance about what we experienced. We don’t have much to do except learn Dutch. We were looking for a way to make contact with Belgian society, with how people think here, with their culture.”
That show was called Dying for life and was soon picked up. “We came into contact with actors, with companies and also performed abroad. In Germany we even played for an audience that included Angela Merkel. It was during that period that I got to know documentary maker Andrés Lübbert. We became best friends.”
Sheikhi’s love for the stage never left. “Being on a podium, that’s for my therapy. I have a lot of energy, I am a person. The war has been very hard. Telling my story is healing.”
He rolled into the comedy world two years ago. Thanks to Mourad Bekkour, the founder of comedy concept ‘Nuff Said. “I was very ill at the time. bone cancer. I was in the hospital. Before that I was always too busy to do comedy, although I was often told that I was quite funny. Mourad then said to me: now you have time to write. If you want to next week you could perform. I thought he was joking, but he meant it.”
The ball started rolling. On the initiative of Mourad Bekkour, the comedy collective’s Least BLW) later became part of design (Belgium), where Sheikhi also took the names of Soe Nsuki and Kamal Kharmach.
Look behind the scenes
“BLW only existed when corona broke out. Andrés then came up with the idea to make a documentary about the collective during the pandemic.” That documentary will be shown in De Cinema on Wednesday. The least wanted in Belgium offers a mirror to hold up to. Followed Lübbert three comedians of the collective. In addition to Sheikhi, Serine Ayari and Latif are also treated by Lübbert Ait. “Andrés has followed part of our lives for a while,” says Sheikhi. “I have not yet seen the result myself. I want to discover the documentary together with the audience.”
And he continues to build his career. “I am now following a trajectory of a number of months in which I follow workshops with well-known comedians such as Michael Van Peel and we are also coached on matters such as bookings, carrying out promotions, payments,…”
In addition, he works full-time for the Arenberg in the programming team. “And I’m a student again, at the University of Antwerp. I still have seven subjects to follow and I have my diploma in Biochemistry in my pocket, because I had not yet fully obtained my diploma in Syria. If the war taught me one thing, it’s that you can never count on one thing. I work, I study and I want to be a professional comedian. But we’ll see what the future brings.”
The least wanted in Belgium: Wednesday 27 October at 8.15 pm in De Cinema (De Studio), Maarschalk Gérardstraat 4, Antwerp