Bahrain festival to honour three theatre stalwarts - Khalifa Aloraifi, Abdullah Al-Saadawi and Abdulla Yousif

TDT | Manama                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Mahir Haneef

Three stalwarts of Bahrain’s theatre industry will be honoured in the upcoming Bahrain Theatre Festival early next month. The announcement was made by Abdullah Malik, President of Bahrain Theatres Union and Chairman of the Supreme Committee, while confirming the launch of the second edition of the annual festival.

Khalifa Aloraifi, Abdullah Al-Saadawi and Abdulla Yousif, being the three major artistes in Bahrain, will be honoured at the festival for their contributions and achievements in the Bahraini theatre industry, the president of the union said.

Bahraini actor, director, and author Khalifa Aloraifi is considered one of the pioneers of the theatrical movement in the Kingdom. His pivotal role resulted in the establishment of many cultural institutions such as the Family of Writers, Awal Theatre, and the National Cultural Forum.

He also wrote short stories and novels, in addition to plays and television series, and directed many programmes. Abdullah Al-Saadawi is a Bahraini actor whose notable theatrical works include “Hostages,” “The Two Friends,” “The Bottom,” and “Men of the Sea.”

‘Scorial’, which was produced along with Al Sawari Theatre, won praise from the jury in the 1993 Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre. His play ‘The Gag’ won the Award for Best Direction in the international category the next year at the Cairo International Festival. He then went on to scoop awards for his plays ‘The Communion’ in 1996 and ‘The Innocent Child’ in 1998.

Shortly after, he presented ‘The Catastrophe’ and followed it with three short plays in the next three years named ‘My Fantastic Son’, ‘Por Treh’, and ‘Life is Not Serious’. Abdullah Al-Saadawi continues to play an active role in the theatre industry. A visual and theatrical artist and television director, Abdulla Yousif has many theatrical works to his credit, including the plays ‘Al-Baraha’, Bint Al-Nukhatha, and ‘Faces’.

These plays were based on the works of Bahraini poet Qasim Haddad. Abdulla Yousif’s dramatic works include ‘The Cart’, ‘Salt and Ashes’, and ‘Bin Aql’. Through his works, he tried to document the reality of life and coupled it with strong portrayals based on his imagination that resulted in works showing modern and contemporary life.

Being one of the distinguished plastic artists in Bahrain, he has a special visual artistic glimpse at the life around him that formed the basis of his theatrical and dramatic works. Many of his artworks are featured at the Bahrain National Museum and in many elegant airports and elegant places around the world.

Being the masters of drama, the responses of the stalwarts to the decision to honour them at the festival were equally dramatic and reflected the artistic pain and suffering of a generation of artists.

Abdullah Al-Saadawi asked, “Does an artist need to die for people to know him?” Khalifa Aloraifi said, “Life is a set of puzzles whose answers I am searching for.” Abdulla Yousif stated, “The Gulf countries did not witness a real relationship between the literary and artistic movements.”

The theatre festival in which the artists will be honoured will be held from November 4th to 10th at the Bahrain Cultural Hall in Manama. The festival will be named after the late Dr. Ibrahim Ghuloom in appreciation of his prominent role in enriching the theatrical movement in the region, officials said.

At the festival, Awal Theatre will present ‘Bodies and Colours’, Al-Sawari Theater will feature ‘A Redundant Child’, Gilgamesh Theatre will stage ‘The Silence of Ishtar’, Alreef Theatre will perform ‘On the Other Bank’, and Al Bayader Theatre will render ‘Whispers’. Held under the auspices of Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) and in cooperation with the Arab Theatre Institute, the festival will see participation from all five local theatre groups.

The jury committee includes Dr. Sameh Mahran from Egypt as the president and five Bahraini judges from different theatre groups, along with the president of the training and development committee. The festival will also include a seminar about theatre and its impact on the culture, revealed the officials.