The Ministry of Culture celebrated the achievements of Ghanim Al-Sulayti by posting a video on its Twitter account commemorating his artistic contributions and his role in enriching the Qatari arts movement. Al-Sulayti is described in the video as a pioneer of art in Qatar and the Gulf region.
According to the video, Al-Sulayti was born in 1956. He worked as broadcaster, but he was also a playwriter known for his exceptional talent in satire. He wrote his first play A Ghost House when he was 16 years old, and he collaborated with classmates to perform the play to the public.
Al-Sulayti graduated from The Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Egypt in 1978. He founded the first Qatari theater company in Qatar in 1986, and its first production was Antar and Abla in the same year. The production was a resounding success. Antar and Abla was the first Qatari play to run for 30 consecutive days, and it was also the first play to be distributed on VHS tapes. Antar and Abla was a breakthrough in Qatari performance arts, as it was the first introduction of Qatari theater to Gulf and Arab viewers.
The video lists some of the honors and awards Al-Sulayti received in his long career, such as the Best Theater Actor Award from Tunisia in 1985 and the Sharjah Award for Arab Theater Innovation in 2016. Several books have been published to document Al-Sulayti’s achievements and impact on Qatari Art, such as Zuhair Radwan Ghazal’s Social and Political Satire in Al-Sulayti’s Theater. In addition to his contributions to theater, Al-Sulayti had participated in various TV productions, such as Fayiz Al-Touch, which was a very successful TV series.
The Ministry of Culture has recently published similar videos focusing on Qatari cultural and artistic icons to celebrate their achievements and contributions to the Qatari culture. The popularity of these videos indicates how much the public appreciate the efforts and contributions of those pioneers.