Rabih Mroué presents “Looking for a Missing Employee” at Peiraios 260

Documents of false suspicions, scandals, revelations of government corruption, and murder surround the case of a Ministry of Finance employee’s sudden disappearing in Beirut in 1996. The disappearance of a big sum of money furthermore raises a lot of questions. The employee’s wife, asserting her right to know her husband’s whereabouts, is arrested.

Based on actual events, playwright, director, and actor Rabih Mroué presents this work on a troubling criminal case and the implicated political and financial actors, searching for the “Truth” through relevant newspaper stories and photographs he has been collecting for decades.

He calmly but relentlessly compares all the material he has gathered. He sits among us as we may see his face while watching this meticulous presentation of the material on the screen. We gradually get a picture of the employee’s personality. His remains were found two months after his disappearance.

Mroué guides us to realise how manipulative and ambiguous all information is – in this case, in perfect agreement with the government’s interests.

Artists

Written and directed by Rabih Mroué

Cast Rabih Mroué, Ghassan Halawani

Set design Samar Maakaron

Technical Manager Sarmad Louis

Assistants Talal Chatila, Ghassan Halawani

Video – interview Mohamed Soueid, Pamela Ghoneimeh

English translation Ziad Nawfal

Photography Houssam Mchaiemch

Production Christine Tohme, Ashkal Alwan (Nov. 2023)