Elias Mattar

As a playwright and director, Elias founded Ibillin Theatre in his hometown in the Galilee, where he dedicated his early professional career to working creatively with children and young adults. He has shown time and again that theatre is a resource that anyone can access, no matter their level of training or background. He supports budding actors and storytellers to find and express the stories that live within them – stories that with a little support and guidance can result in riveting high-quality performances – while empowering them to continue along their own path of self-development and growth.

Elias explores complex themes such as displacement and belonging, drawing on his own lived experience and the communities he works with. His directing credits include A Needle and a Fine Thread (Nazareth), A Dress of My Own (Nazareth), The Darkness of Nisan (Ibillin), and Rooms (Ibillin). After moving to London and completing his master’s degree at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Elias founded the El Bayet Centre for Performing Arts and Drama Therapy. His most recent work, Olive Jar, commissioned by Shubbak Festival and Grand Junction, was the first play he wrote and directed in London. Performed in two cycles (July 2023 and April 2024), Olive Jar celebrated the real stories of Londoners with heritage from the Middle East and North Africa, and explored themes of migration, belonging, love, heartbreak and loss.