Four stage veterans are spearheading a new era of community theatre in the UAE with the launch this week of The Junction. Part of the latest phase of Alserkal Avenue, the venue is set to cut the cost of hiring a performance space by up to 80 per cent.
Community theatre is more popular than ever in the UAE – but groups have long bemoaned the chronic shortage of small, affordable venues to stage their shows.
Frustrated by this, the four thespians decided to take matters into their own hands and create what they say is the country’s first independent “black box theatre”, a type of simple, flexible performance space.
One of them is Arjun Burman. Before heading to his day job as a financial analyst in Dubai last week, he made a quick stop at the venue to check on progress.
After a chat with the head engineer, Burman dropped off home-cooked meals for the workers who have been toiling since August to have The Junction ready for this week.
It is a dream come true for the rapidly growing number of community-theatre groups that operate on shoestring budgets and struggle to find affordable spaces in which to perform.
Even before The Junction opens its doors to theatregoers for the first time – with a production tomorrow of Noel Coward's The Vortex, performed by Dubai-based director George Anastasiades – it have been rented out until January.
“Each one of us has been involved in community theatre here for quite a few years,” says Burman, whose partners in the venture are Gautam and Akansha Goenka, and Rashmi Kotriwala. “Gautam and I are obsessed. We come straight to the site before and after work.”
They were also a part of the founding team behind one of Dubai’s oldest theatre companies, Backstage Productions.
“About four years back, we started to develop the idea and this has grown to more than just theatre – it will involve all performing arts,” says Kotriwala.
The 4,200 square feet theatre has a 40 by 25ft stage and can seat an audience of about 160. The size is comparable to the Kilachand Theatre at Ductac, which is designed for intimate local theatre.
The Junction will also have a green room, which will double up as a workshop and an audition hall. Directors will also be able to select and rent one of the 550 scripts that will be stocked in a library.
Gautam says that until now, the ability for small groups to stage several productions each year has been restricted.
“Groups and individuals soon discover it is a huge financial commitment to put up a show,” he says. “Even if they have their scripts, costumes and sets sorted out, just the rental of the space can be exorbitant.”
The few other spaces for hire include Ductac and the Madinat Theatre in Dubai. Groups have to pay between Dh10,000 to Dh15,000 a day to stage a show at these venues, which includes government entertainment fees. Ticket sales and hard-to-come-by sponsorships are not enough for small productions to cover such high costs.
“Having worked in community theatre in Europe, the United States and India, I can say that staging a show in the UAE is one of the most expensive in the world, almost three times higher,” says Gautam.
The corporate trainer, who grew up in Dubai, says the cost of renting The Junction will start at only Dh3,000, which includes technical and marketing support, lighting and sound equipment to theatre companies.
Constellation Dubai, the events company behind the Short+Sweet theatre festival in the city, was one of the first to hire The Junction, for theatre workshops and plays. Elizabeth Hadaway, Short+Sweet Dubai’s co-creative director, says they have scheduled workshops and auditions there in the coming weeks.
“Affordability is definitely one issue that I expect The Junction will address for local theatre groups,” she says.
Courtyard Playhouse in Al Quoz, which opened in 2013, was the first grass-roots space for drama. Tiffany Schultz, the co-owner of the venue, which was specifically designed for improv and is licensed as a training centre, says its schedule is “jam-packed”.
“We have two improv shows happening each week,” she says. “So we think it is fantastic that we have another theatre that can share the load. It’s a boost for Dubai’s cultural landscape.”
• The Junction will open at Alserkal Avenue with a production of Noel Coward’s The Vortex, which runs from Wednesday until Saturday from 8pm each night, plus a matinée at 2.30pm on Friday. Tickets cost Dh80 from www.thejunctiondubai.com
aahmed@thenational.ae
