10 theatrical performances recite with creativity, and mixed with deep philosophical thought, illuminate the theater of the Cultural Center of Kalba City in Sharjah, during the activities of the eighth session of the Festival of Short Plays, organized by the Department of Theater at the Department of Culture in Sharjah, which began last Thursday and will continue until tomorrow.

The first three evenings witnessed a high turnout from the public, who interacted with the presentations and accompanying light and sound effects, and the audience expressed their admiration for the good organization of the festival, and the hosting of several cultural and monetary events dedicated to the sessions of the lovers of AbuFallunon.

The present session will witness the competition of 10 theatrical performances that qualified to compete for the festival awards after a preliminary competition that saw the participation of 19 performances. The qualified performances were selected after a technical evaluation by a court committee, which included artists Ibrahim Al-Qahoumi (UAE), Amal Hawija (Syria), and Youssef Bahri (Tunisia). .

Festival Awards

The performances are competing for a number of awards for theatrical performances such as "Direction", "Acting" and "Scenography", and are judged by a jury comprising of the UAE Mohammed Ishaq, Tunis Wafaa Taboubi, Morocco Bousselham Al-Daef, Kuwait Dr. Abdullah Al-Aaber and Jordan Sage war.

Participants in the festival are: "Have mercy on Shakespeare", a script prepared for two Shakespeare texts and directed by Mohamed Juma Ali, "Landscape" by Harold Pinter and directed by Khaled Bubble, "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett and directed by Jasim Gharib, and "Leer King sculptors" Shakespeare's script was directed by Said El Hersh, "Thirsty" by Eugene O'Neill and directed by Yusuf Al-Mughni, and "Something Tetsk" about Hoopay Miklush's "Anti-Mind", directed by Ahmed Abdullah Rashid, and "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett Directed by Rashid Dahnoun, «Cities of Ashes» by Harold Pinter and directed by Yousef Al Qassab, and «Tragedy of the Pilgrims» prepared for two texts of Salah Abdul Sabour and Farouk Juwaida, who Counter and directed by Rami Majdi, and «Hunter Birds of Hell», directed by Shaaban Speight.

Among the theatrical performances, the Emirates Today toured to highlight some of the philosophical dimensions on which the participating plays were based.

The first evening of the festival saw two theatrical performances, «have mercy on Shakespeare» and «landscape».

«Have mercy on Shakespeare»

The premiere of the opening night and directed by Mohamed Juma Ali, based on the love stories in the plays «Othello» and «Romeo and Juliet», creating a ground for the intersection and communication between Othello and Didimona on the one hand, and Romeo and Juliet on the other hand, to highlight the impact of ethnic differences, cultural and family in the destinies of lovers .

He participated in the play on the stage: Mohammed Juma in the role of director, Khalifa Nasser in the role of «Othello», Anoud Mohammed «Juliet», Adel Spit «Iago», Issa Murad «Brabancio», Ali Khalil «Tebalt», and Johar Said «Priest».

The show is one of the participating youth experiences, where the director adopted the work of collage in which he combined the two texts, overlapping contradictory feelings of love and hate, betrayal and loyalty.

Commenting on the show, the Sudanese theatrical and academic, Dr. Mustafa Adam, said that «the show (mercy me Shakespeare) is a new theatrical work away from the text of Shakespeare, and succeeded in carrying several questions about the relationship between the human nature and the conflict between good and evil», adding that the show “ “It has been very coherent, despite the many challenges that director Mohamed Gomaa has been working on.”

land escape

From the profound and contradictory philosophical thought of "have mercy on me," to the absurdity of the second presentation, a "landscape" of the text of the English writer Harold Pinter.

The show was directed by Khaled Al-Faqai, who also co-starred over the stage and played the role of Duff, along with actress Mariam Al-Zarouni, who played the role of Beth. The play tells the story of a couple of old people who have fallen in love with each other. Who lives by.

The drama adopted the style of "Diodrama", where the two characters begin to work in the art of storytelling, women talk about stories she lived in the past, and a relationship with a former lover, and events that passed by, and how she was beautiful, while the man talking about things that happen to him at the moment, about his wife , And his problems with others, and about the wide void he lives.

Commenting on the show, director Khaled al-Faqai explained that «the story of the show belongs to the theater of absurdity, where waiting remains the master of the situation, and individuals suffer loneliness and inability to communicate, tales and incomplete crushed, as well as dialogues», explaining that he tried to confuse the feelings of the viewer to remain attentive To dialogue between the characters ».

«Lear King of Sculptors»

From theatrical absurdity to the world of sculptures by theatrical show «Leer King sculptors» written by William Shakespeare, and directed by Saeed Al-Harsh, and starring Mohammed Adel Saeed and Mohammed Abdullah Rashid and Jassim Mohammed Juma, Ali Al-Wahaibi and Abdullah Ali Saeed and Talal Al-Saadi, and Mana Al-Mesmari and Hassan Yousef and Obaid Mohammed Al-Harsh . The presentation highlighted the ways of presenting the self in the fission of itself to advance the image and the opposite, and put in front of two different personalities «King Lear» and «Bahlul».

The author quoted the character of King Lear and his acrobatics, but in a contemporary way from a philosophical and intellectual perspective.

Actor Mohamed Adel, who played the role of the character Lear showed distinctive abilities understandable to the idea and objectives of the text in the performance and movement on stage. The director Said Al-Harsh put his theater production concept smoothly, relying on a contemporary vision based on simplicity and depth, focusing on highlighting the human side in the character of Lear.

Hamid Fares Festival personality

The opening ceremony witnessed the honor of Sheikh Haitham bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Head of the Ruler's Office in Kalba City, Abdullah Al Owais, Head of Culture Department in Sharjah Government, and Director of the Department of Theater in the Department, Ahmed Bourhima, for the Emirati artist, Hamid Fares, by choosing this year's personality of the festival.

A film about his autobiography was screened, during which Fares talked about the beginnings of his theatrical activity, which came in the second half of the nineties, and then touched on the most prominent theatrical experiences, as a writer and theater actor, at the local and Arab levels.

The ceremony also witnessed the screening of film material that was transferred as part of the festival's biography.