The Organizing Committee for the National Day celebrations was keen to present a bouquet of theater arts that enhance the Qatari heritage during Darb Al-Saai activities, which will extend until December 18, under the slogan “Our Unity is the Source of Our Strength.”
The Center for Theater Affairs participates in these artistic events, where it presents a group of theatrical works that attracted various groups of Darb Al-Saai fans, including citizens, residents and state guests.
The writer Abdul Rahim Al-Siddiqi said that the Ministry of Culture was interested in presenting an elegant theatrical meal suitable for the days of Darb Al-Saai, which coincides with the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, to present a bouquet of artworks that suit different age groups of Darb Al-Saai fans.
He explained that the Center for Theater Affairs presents in this regard a set of activities, the most important of which is the play (Al-Ghabba) by Qatar Theatrical Ensemble, written by Talib Al-Dos and directed by Nasser Abdel-Ridha, starring a group of artists, including Rashid Al-Sheeb, Faisal Rashid, Ahmed Al-Aqlan, Mohammad Al-Sayegh, Nasser Habib , Omar Abu Saqr, and a number of young men are presently presenting in Al-Bida’ area in Darb Al-Saai.
In addition to a play for children “The World 2030”: produced by Al-Mawal Art Production Company, written by Maha Hamid, directed by Hanan Sadiq, and represented by Ali Al-Khalaf, Ali Al-Sharshani, Asrar, Mohammad Adel, Khaled Youssef, Samah Al-Sayed, Ibrahim Al-Aqidi, Salman Salem, and the assistant director Malik bin Rahuma, and the scenography by Mohammad Al-Marashdeh. The play will be presented on the 13th, 14th, and 15th at Darb Al-Saai Theatre.
He added that the Center for Theater Affairs presents two operetta performances. The first is entitled “A Tale of a Flag,” which deals with the story of the establishment of the Qatari flag, and was written by Tayseer Abdullah and Abdul Rahim Al-Siddiqi, and directed by Nasser Abdul-Reda. As for the second, it is entitled “Housh Al-Bayt”, written and directed by Saad Burshid, and it deals with the Qatari culture. These are presented in Al-Hosh area in Darb Al-Saai.
The writer Abdul Rahim, the Director of the Center for Theater Affairs, confirmed that the center cares about children’s activities to enhance their presence on the stage. The last of these events was the play “Taq Ya Matar” for children, in addition to the continuous puppet space from the opening date of Darb Al-Saai, November 25, which continues until December 15, and includes two plays, the first titled “Achieve Your Dream”, and the second titled the “World Cup Journey”, in addition to the workshops that are offered daily to accommodate 250 to 300 children.
He added that the Center for Theater Affairs also presents the “Hazawi” event, presented by the artist, Hadiya Saeed, who is part of Lol’s heritage (First Time Heritage), where tells, in an interesting theatrical manner, stories from the Qatari heritage.
Among the important artistic events that are shown in Darb Al-Saai is the play (Al-Ghaba) presented by Qatar Theatrical Ensemble, Its events take place in a traditional manner on the deck of one of the ships searching for pearls in the Gulf region during the period before the emergence of oil, where sea life and diving, and it tells about an uncle’s relationship with his nephew “Jaber” during a diving trip. During that trip in which he the uncle’s mission is the “Nukhatha”, one member of the ship’s crew sets up a trap between the uncle and his nephew, who is one of the skilled divers. He even tries to push him to kill the “Nukhadha” after deluding him that he has seized his inheritance. Then, the events follow, but, the forces of good triumph in the end.
The play, which takes place on the shore of a lake in Darb Al-Saai, and simulating the lives of sailors, contains the art of greed that is appropriate for the traditional events in Darb Al-Saai.
As for the children’s play “The World of 2030”, the director Hanan Sadiq said about it, that it revolves around the vision of Qatar 2030, in an artistic way that suits the child and carries a set of messages, which is the need to adhere to a dream, perseverance, and work is the only thing that leads you to your goals. Thus, a person reaches his goals through his belief in God and his trust with his abilities, along with the need to constantly encourage children to dream of working in order to reach it. This is embodied through a group of children who were in a suit to their grandfather on the farm, and suddenly a strange body enters them; to discover that there is a stranger who wants to travel through time, so, he decides to take the children with him on a journey to the future. Then, other events happen, so, he returns to the past instead of the future, to discover a primitive village without education, schools, or hospitals. Then, these children try to convince the villagers of the importance of education in order to develop themselves. They finally achieve the dream embodied in Qatar’s vision in various fields such as education, health, environment, and others, stressing that these ideas are passed on to those children in a beautiful artistic manner that depend on the direct theater and cinema technology as well through events that are presented on the screen.
For her part, Samar Daher, a maker and puppeteer in the Puppet Space Troupe at the Theater Affairs Center, said that: The Puppet Space presents two theatrical performances, which are the World Cup trip which deals with their journey from the workshop until arriving at the stadium to watch the opening match of the World Cup. When they arrive there, it appears that they got tickets by mistake to show that the puppet maker is the one who got the correct tickets to attend the opening of the World Cup. As for the second play, it is (Fulfill Your Dream), which shows how the family supports the ambition of its children.
She added that the puppets space offers a group of workshops targeting children from 3 to 14 years old, which is a group of different puppets from hand puppets to finger puppets, to stick puppets, according to the age group, where we teach children the mechanisms of moving puppets by choosing the appropriate things from the environment to be able to move the puppets.