Curtain Call. Standing backstage in the ruins of Beirut’s Grand Théâtre,... (Downtown Beirut)
Curtain Call. Standing backstage in the ruins of Beirut’s Grand Théâtre, the remains of tattered velvet curtains still hang on either side of where the stage would once have been. Parted in their time by luminaries like Josephine Baker, Umm Kolthoum and back in Mandate days, the Comédie Française, the theatre served as meeting hall, music hall and cinema and even briefly became a porno cinema during the early years of the civil war. Much like the infamous cinema in Hamra, which catered to sexually frustrated PLO fighters (making me wonder if films like Deep Throat and Debbie Does Dallas did make it to Lebanese screens) during lulls in fighting, given its location, the Grand likely served a heavily-armed clientele. An important part of the city’s modern architectural heritage – it was designed by architects Youssef Aftimos (who also did the Beirut Municipality and the Barakat Building on the Sodeco crossing) and Jaques Tabet, the mind behind the striking main building of the St. Georges – it has been boarded up since the end of the war and according to the last publicly-released plans, is supposed to be turned into a boutique hotel and spa at some point in time in the future. So the next time those curtains part, if they are even kept, it may be to reveal a lobby full of well-heeled travellers and wellness-seekers, waiting to have the kinks massaged out of their weary shoulders.
by wsinghbartlett / Instagram