UK website takes Arab plays to the world


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  • Arabic

Blame language barriers or conservative western programming, but the fact remains that Arabic theatre doesn't travel as far as it clearly should. New work is often well regarded, but not widely appreciated outside the region. Launched on Monday, Gulf Stage is a British Council-backed project which hopes to change all that, and bring Arabic performances to the world.

It's an ambitious but perfectly viable idea, because the productions don't require actors to be flown across the planet, venues to be booked and audiences to be found. Instead, the plays have all been filmed by the London-based Digital Theatre company, which edits them, adds English subtitles and then streams the plays via its website. Best of all, it's free.

Six theatre companies from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are involved and filming took place during the Gulf Co-operation Countries Youth Theatre Festival in Qatar last October. There are black comedies, modern takes on folk tales and serious dramas. The Play, which is the UAE's award-winning entry by Talal Mahmoud, sums up the high quality of the submissions, but also the ethos behind them all.

It's a production asking big questions. A young actor is getting ready to go on stage but becomes embroiled in a conversation with his make-up artist. They end up questioning the nature and usefulness of art and theatre in the Arab world - as well as the role of women.

Deborah Dignam, the British Council's digital adviser who worked closely on the project, is delighted with the results.

"The work is quite poetic and it seems to be resonating already," she says. "One thing I think I've learnt through this is that, unlike some contemporary theatre in the UK, there is a strength of message here. Theatre, for all the people involved in Gulf Stage, is an expressive art form and a powerful medium where you can communicate. So it's great to be able to share this cultural work with the world."

British Council projects often send theatre from the UK to far-flung places across the globe, so it's interesting that a two-way relationship is being encouraged here. And Gulf Stage is not just about reaching new audiences. Fahed AlBaker, who directed the Qatari play Me... You... the Human, is hopeful that, via these six works, stereotypes about the Gulf can be changed.

"Anyone who watches the plays will be able to see that the issues are actually global," he says. "Of course, it's about reaching international audiences, but it's also about opening a cultural dialogue with other parts of the world - we are fully aware of and inspired by their work, but we hope that this project can make that feeling mutual."

Best of all, there's the real sense that the Gulf Stage work really does deserve to be on the Digital Theatre website alongside more high-profile productions from famous London theatres such as the Almeida. This is no patronising pat on the head from the British Council but a genuine spotlight on the theatre scene in the Middle East. For AlBaker it underlines just how vibrant the scene is.

"I think it's important that the performances came from the GCC Youth Theatre Festival," he says. "Youth are by nature revolutionary and you can see from their work how serious they are about putting the spotlight on real issues that concern not only them but young people everywhere. It all helps to enrich this sense of a theatre movement in the Middle East."

"The most important thing for us isn't just that it's there for people to see when they want, for free, online," adds Dignam. "It's that people can have conversations about the work. The British Council is in 110 countries, so via our networks we need to get across the idea that people in Nigeria and Brazil can watch this and it will still have a relevance. The driving force behind this is sharing theatre around the world, and what can we learn from each other when we do. It's about encouraging people to think."

In a sense, these six participating productions are innovators in a project that could easily become the YouTube of young, cutting-edge theatre around the world. The main issue most arts organisations struggle with is finding audiences. Nothing can ever replace the thrill of live theatre, but Gulf Stage is likely to be experienced by far more people than, say, a one-off show in a 250-capacity auditorium.

"It is truly exciting," says AlBaker. "The internet has played a great part in getting people closer together and I think theatre can play a part in that. It's about using technology to open the channels of creative and artistic communication."

Oscars in the UAE

The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am

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The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors

Power: Combined output 920hp

Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic

Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km

On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025

Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 626bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh1,050,000

On sale: now

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas

Three stars

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Pad Man

Dir: R Balki

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte

Three-and-a-half stars

ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS

Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)

Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens

Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

Martin Sabbagh profile

Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East

In the role: Since January 2015

Lives: In the UAE

Background: M&A, investment banking

Studied: Corporate finance

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