As Lebanon suffered a war last year, Ali Chahrour was determined to keep making art, creating a performance inspired by the plight of migrant workers caught up in the conflict.

Months after a ceasefire largely halted the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Chahrour's work premiered in Beirut in early May with plans to take it to stages across Europe including at France's famed Avignon Festival.

"This project was born during the war," said the 35-year-old playwright and choreographer.

"I did not want to stop making theatre, because I don't know how to fight or carry weapons, I only know how to dance."

On stage, two Ethiopian domestic workers and a Lebanese Ethiopian woman speak, sing and dance, telling stories of exile and mistreatment in "When I Saw the Sea", directed by Chahrour.

The play pays tribute to the migrant women who were killed or displaced during the two-month war between Israel and Hezbollah........

© Al Monitor