Theater troupe in rebel-held city recounts tales of Syria's 'Crypt of Death'

Against a backdrop of hanging nooses and chants that were once a sign of the uprising in Syria, Mohamed al-Zeer and fellow actors recount tales of prison, torture and suffering in their war-stricken country as part of 'Crypt of Death'performance.

The 25-year-old student was briefly detained in Syrian prisons after the war erupted following mass protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

"I talked about my brother who was in jail, I spoke about my experience with prison and the torture I was subject to," said Zeer, an electronics engineering student whose academic journey was suspended because of the war.

On stage at the Arab Cultural Centre, where members of the Pawn theatre troupe founded in 2017 perform, the young actor who was detained for one month plays the role of a man who lost his mind after being subject to torture in prison.

"A person who was used to freedom and is suddenly exposed to the reality of prison. He became in shock and living behind bars," he said.

The troupe worked for five months to collect real-life stories, some of which were lived by the actors themselves as Syrian prisons, director Ibrahim Sarmini, who leads the performance said.

"The performance tackles the issue of political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, prisoners of the Syrian revolution," Sarmini explained.

Most of the troupe members were professional actors who performed before the uprising, and some others were trained to join the performance.

The self-financed actors usually run rehearsals at their homes and perform in front of their audiences in a number of rebel-held cities including Idlib, controlled by the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. They also perform in cities controlled by the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

The performance comes at a time where different forms of artistic productions in Syria are reviving after years of war.

Like most other sectors of the economy in Syria, the film, television, and theatre business has been hit hard by a war that has killed half a million people, forced millions from their homes and laid waste to swathes of the country since 2011.

During the war, many famous Syrian actors left to work in other Arab states.