Walid Kowatli aka Walid Al-Kowatli or Walid Al-Quwatli (Arabic: وليد القوتلي) is a Syrian theatre director and playwright, known for directing the Lak' bin Lak' written by Emile Habibi and Waiting for Barbarians an adaptation of Waiting for the Barbarians poem by Constantine P. Cavafy.
Early life and education Kowatli was born and grew up in Damascus, Syria. He obtained his degree in Theater Direction from the Institute of Art Studies (Krystov Sarafov, formerly) in Sofia, Bulgaria, class of 1973.
Career Kowatli headed the Acting Department at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus from 1991 to 1992, before heading the acting department he joined the institute as a teacher in 1979 to teach the art of acting, the basics of directing and the theater laboratory.
From 1976 to 1999, he was appointed as director at the Department of TV drama in the Syrian Arab TV, where he directed skits and plays the TV a number of them were directed to children and young.
In March 2012, he headed the jury for theater days for the Colleges of Applied Sciences in Oman, and in the sixth Kalba Festival plays short in the UAE in 2017. In the same year, he received the Golden Shield commemorating the Syrian meeting in Dubai.
During the period from 2013 to 2017, he worked on a number of documents addressing Syrian children lost during wartime. His work was presented on stages such as the Syrian National Theater and Al-Kabbani Theater in Damascus and the Sorbonne Theater in Paris.
Kowatli directed nearly 30 predominantly experimental and poetic plays during his tenure in the theater career, and has worked with the rising generation artists in amateur bands such as Waha Al-Raheb.
In 2025, his name was included in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Theatre Directors.
Work Theatre Plays in SyriaNumberStage nameAuthorGeneral presentationPlace of presentation1TopazeMarcel Bagnol1974 1974Al-Shabiba Theater Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus2The Zoo StoryEdward Albi1978Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus3Lak' bin Lak'Emile Habibi1981Workers Theatre - Damascus4The FrogsAristophan1981Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus5The Story of VascoGeorges Schehadé1982National Theater - Damascus / graduation project6JanuaryYordan Radychkov1983National Theater - Damascus7PeaceAdaptation by Walid Kowatli1985Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus8The King Will DieEugène Ionesco1990Workers Theatre - Damascus / graduation project9The Fox and the GrapesGuilherme Figueiredo1991Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus - Damascus10Inspired by the Improvised ComedyWalid Kowatli1991Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus - Damascus11The LessonEugène Ionesco1992French Cultural Center12KasparPeter Handke1992National Theater - Damascus / graduation project13The Origin of The StoryBakr al-Sharqawi1992National Theater - Damascus / graduation project14Crazy DaysNikolai Gogol1994Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus15No CommentWalid Kowatli1996Al Qabbani Theater - Damascus16Stories of the BodyWalid Kowatli1997Workers Theater - Damascus17Eye of the MoonWalid Kowatli2004National Theater - Damascus18Waiting (playing with Beckett)Walid Kowatli2006National Theater - Damascus19Flight AttemptQuote Walid Kowatli2008Damascus Opera House - Damascus20Waiting for BarbariansAdaptation by Walid Kowatli2010Opera House - DamascusPlays outside SyriaNumberStage nameAuthorGeneral presentationPlace of presentation1Lak' bin Lak'Emile Habibi1981Tunisia: Carthage theater2Crazy DaysNikolai Gogol1995Arab World Institute - Paris3Very Happy Woman DaysWalid Kowatli1995Stuttgart - Germany Theater "Camel Sand" - Paris4As You LikeWalid Kowatli1999Theater of the Sorbonne - Paris Mediterranean Festival: Monfalcon - Italy5As You SeeWalid Kowatli2000The Opposite Bank Festival: The wooden Sword Theater - Paris6Curtains and ColorsWalid Kowatli2003Sharjah Sixth Interchange: Beit Al Shamsi - Sharjah7ViolenceWalid Kowatli2003A theater workshop for the Department of Culture and Information - Sharjah8Waiting (playing with Beckett)Quote by Walid Kowatli2006 2008Amman Theater Festival - Jordan Okinawa Theater Festival - Japan9Waiting for BarbariansWalid Kowatli2010Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theater10The Seven Days of TimeNouri al-Jarrah2012Doha - Qatar11We and the WorldWalid Kowatli2016 2017Gaziantep - Turkey Istanbul - Turkey
Television and documentaries
2013: The Children of Syria Ascend to Heaven 2014: Bird of Fire 2015: Baptized with Fire 2016: Maram: The Assassination of a Dream
Translations The Fox and the Grapes — play by Guilherme Figueiredo (translated from English) Crazy Days — play by Nikolai Gogol (translated from Bulgarian) January — play by Yordan Radychkov (translated from Bulgarian) The Art of Theater — book by Boris Zakhava (translated from Bulgarian) With Water — poet by Salah Stétié (translated from French)
References