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All the artist can offer the audience is to be honest and sincere in his single combat with the matter. Yet, in the end, everything purifies itself into this simple element, the only one humans can count on in their existence: the ability to love... My duty is make sure that whoever sees [my work] feels the need to love, to give their love, and that they perceive the calling of beauty.
— Andreï Tarkovsky

HASSAN EL JAÏ

Actor – Director – Teacher

Passionate about theatre since childhood and connaisseur of Molière and Shakespeare, Hassan got his acting training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, then at the Cours Florent in Paris – where he obtained a professional actor’s degree with the highest honors.

Currently based in Morocco, he writes and adapts texts in several languages, directs and performs on stage, teaches acting classes and leads public speaking workshops.

His many adaptations on stage include world-renowned classics – such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Othello, The Little Prince, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet; as well as major works by Farîd-Dîn Attâr, Djalâl-Dîn Rûmi, Victor Hugo and Olivier Py.

His bilingual stage adaptation of the journey of Shams-Dîne Tabrîzi - Rûmi’s spiritual master, is his greatest success to date: over 120 performances in 5 countries - including shows in prestigious american universities such as Columbia, Princeton & Yale.

Hassan is undoubtedly one of the major figures of Moroccan theatre in recent years.