The Al Sawari Theatre Festival for Youth

 

The 12th Al Sawari International Youth Theatre Festival livestreams on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Saturday 1 September to Monday 10 September.

Under the patronage of HE Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, the 12th Al Sawari International Youth Theatre Festival will take place in the period between September 1-10, 2018 at Bahrain Cultural Theatre. Supporting the event are Tamkeen as Strategic Partner, National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) as Platinum Sponsor and Batelco as Silver Sponsor.  

Featuring 10 plays, the event has extended its reach this year, becoming an international platform after it was only hosting Arabic plays. This comes as part of the organisers’ keenness to enrich the theatrical movement in the Kingdom of Bahrain and open new horizons to enable youth involved in the theatrical field exchange their experiences. A selection panel composed of artists Hassan Abdulraheem, Ibrahim Khalfan and Jama’an Al Ruwaie reviewd 54 plays from all around the world, featuring various types of genres. However, only 10 were handpicked to be showcased during this year’s event. 

 

 

Saturday 1 September

Al Muftah (The Key)
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
What is Al Muftah? Who is entitled to have it when time comes? How can three people combine to face all that? It is a journey within domestic conflicts and foreign investigation... When the key is a mystery, our life will face different concepts of the meaning of freedom.

 

 

Sunday 2 September

YELLOW DAYS
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
Ethnic conflicts destroy lives of people, threatens societies. A sister marries a man from the enemy side. But her brother and husband have been fighting against each other. The sister is torn between duty and love. War, ethnic intolerance, and hatred destroy normal human existence. The family is spited. The result is - death of wife and sister, destroyed family, grief. 

 

 

Monday 3 September

Laysa Ba’ad (Not Yet)
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
Laysa Ba’ad includes a lot of criticism, will, hardness, determination, deep-rooted beliefs, and principles.  Two Tunisians love their country. Two security people are on a mission, and they want to complete it with courage. During their journey, they are met with many examples of corruption, bribery, favoritism, stealing youth's dreams, high ratio of unemployment, high cost of living, slogans like “I Will Not Forgive” and “People Want”, those who claim to be Allah’s spokesman on Earth, murder and explosions and other slogans and phenomena that have spread widely after the revolution. These phenomena are harshly criticised with a cynical style that criticises the situation of Tunisia since the revolution until now. Here we have a great deal of criticism accompanied by black irony, which makes one pose many questions to himself, the first of which is: what have I done for my country? Have we called ourselves to account before calling others to account? Why all this indifference to homeland problems? Why all this greed of politicians? Is a mockery on the stage of the spreading of corruption and care for nonsense comparable to forgetting real problems of our homeland?

 

 

Tuesday 4 September

WANDERING TIME
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
Once all living things were given the Time as a punishment. But the only creature that never reconciled losing Eternity was and still remains a human being…
The performance “WANDERING TIME” was released as a result of the first period of working in “Laboratory of Physical Theatre”. The performance appeals to images inspired by the theme of the relationship between human beings and Time. Those relationships that are always ambivalent, painful, tragic and eternally conflicting. Actors from the Laboratory have embodied in plastic compositions their experience and emotions about losing Eternity, physical perception of time flow, finiteness of life, and people’s loneliness in Universe. This performance is a kind of dialogue between human beings and Time, which penetrates the whole his existence and inspires fear and anxiety and then give a long hoped-for peace.

 

 

Wednesday 5 September

Fy Al Helwa W Al Mura (for Batter and Worse)
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
The play deals with social, maybe religious and maybe humane, events...
The play tries to present the relationship among sons, parents, and grandparents in a way that is void of form and logic and via a cause which some may consider an insignificant personal cause not worth attention...
We will go around together with the character of Gaber: a badly treated son (as he claims) and an outcast (as he thinks) by his brothers, landlord, manager, his wife's father, and many others. Gaber unleashed his imagination to go to an unrealistic realm with his strange characters in order to contradict our reality with imaginary, or maybe realistic, stories...

 

 

Thursday 6 September

Hadra Hura
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
Nobody from us knows what’s next and what’s laying ahead of us. All we know is that our life is getting more complicated. It has become pale and boring. However, a glimmer of hope gives life its beauty, which quickly disappears when it collides with the reality and hysterical situations that make you wonder: Does this country love me?
Hadra Hura is a dancing play that embodies the life of people experiencing war time through a young man.  He was so shocked by his situation that he realises that there is no way to continue living further without escaping reality by thinking. He will isolate himself to allow thoughts to occupy his mind amid fears of uncertainty. He is seeking a homeland or a dream. He sees the homeland as a suitcase or a distant memory or a piece of cloth which signals the end of the homeland which means the death of everyone on earth. He is keen to see life spinning despite the sufferings and difficulties because it carries our history, culture and heritage.

Friday 7 September

Ta’a Sakina
8:30 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 11 a.m. EDT (New York) / 18:30 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
Ta’a Sakina play is the outcome of a workshop lasted for one year. It featured the participation of 12 ladies involved in child care, who regularly visit the children’s clinic at the Al Abbasiya Hospital for Mental Health. The play throws light on motherhood in Egypt, where mothers face depression, health and mental woes. (Youth Strength Inspires Us), special thanks extended to all the women who shared with us their ideas and pains and their happy moments they experiences when the successfully fought depression. The workshop was sponsored by Kamiona.

 

 

Flight Over the City
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
The female character of the play due to an accident lost her sight when she was child. The play starts in a ward the same day of the surgery, putting in evidence the girl’s contradictory and painful thoughts. The girl doubts that she'll be able to see again tomorrow, and wonders if it’d be better to remain in her inner world, in which she has lived nearly 20 years. During those years she has ornamented her own world with pretty, but strange colours, and now it's full of moving and dancing objects, of attractive fragrances and voices. But the most important inhabitant of that world is the girl’s doctor whom she’s in love with.
In the second act the girl is in an apartment, rented by the doctor for their life together. Some time is evidently passed after the surgery. Later it becomes clear that the girl feels uncertain about that appointment: she’s not ready to live with the doctor, as by finding her sight she lost her passion towards him. The doctor lets her off, but he isn’t unhappy, since he remembers his love, the one which raised him over reality, which gave him wings to fly over the city. 

 

Saturday 8 September

Sarkhat Alam (Painful Scream)
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 20:00 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
The play "Sarkhat Alam," directed by Zakaria Taqeeq, mimics an Arab reality in the silent way of the theater. The play expresses an Arab-Western conflict, where Arabism is in the context of resistance and war between Western intellectual expansion. The play sheds light on  the worries clouding the the Arab world, where its nations are divorcing their genuine identity and replacing it with the western culture through the misuse of the advanced technologies introduced by western countries. Based on this sociological concept saturated with the current dilemmas and challenges, the director Zakaria Taqeeq used the silent technique to bypass the plot and focus on body movements to trigger imagination on several issues.

Sunday 9 September

Honorary Show: (Sa’amoot Fy Al Manfa) In Exile I Shall Die
8:30 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 11 a.m. EDT (New York) / 18:30 GMT+3 (Bahrain)
The play presents some aspects of family and personal register, which represent a sample of the suffering of Palestinians who were driven away from their homes and displaced to exiles, in addition to political attempts which tried to obliterate the Palestinian identity. Such registers belong to the period from 1920 to the time the play is staged. As you can see, it is the story of ordinary people. But you discover the hell of suffering and the heroic acts by those ordinary people in the record of Palestinian cause. These are registers brought forth by political statements and accords. They are registers of ontological and critical questions which we have got used to.
Thus they are not so deep for us. But when we see them through the play, we rediscover them  a new and rearrange them. We rewrite them in our personal register, then we begin to feel our head and identity. We will see the place where we will die and the words which will be written on our grave stones.

 

Meanwhile, the festival this year will feature the 1st Al Sawari International Conference for Youth which represents an international platform for theatricalists who will be able to share their experiences under the motto (Theatre..And Beyond Humanity). The conference will shed light on the most important intellectual and artistic developments in the world with a view to showcase modern theatrical experiences. The conference is expected to conclude with a joint statement.

Meanwhile, a workshop sponsored by the American Embassy will be conducted on the sidelines of the festival by American trainer Roberta Levetow. It will explore the importance of networking and creating bonds among theatricalists to cement cultural links among them.

The Arbitration panel will include several famous theatricalists. It will be chaired by Dr Mohammed Al Khuzaie from the Kingdom of Bahrain, Nasser Abdulmunem from Egypt and Johanna Jreseer from France.

Furthermore, the 12th Al Sawari International Youth Theatre Festival will honour several figures who enriched the theatrical movement in Bahrain and in the Arab world, including Bahraini poet and playwright Ali Al Sharqawi, who is considered a pioneering personality in writing plays and poems. He has won many awards at local and Arab levels, while his works have been translated into many languages. He authored more than 50 poetry books and plays. He is one of those who contributed in enabling Bahraini theatre to keep pace with the international’s.

The festival also will honour Nora Amin who is a writer (novelist, storyteller and playwright), translator, actress, theatre director and choreographer. She co-founded the Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Band at Cairo Opera House in 1993, then moved to work as a leading actress in the Independent Theatre’s performances at El Hanager Arts Centre until 2003. She founded Lamusica Independent Theatre Group (2000), where she directed and produced 37 performances in drama, music and dance. She founded the "Hikayatna" (Our Story) initiative (2009) for personal storytelling in public cafes. She also founded the Egyptian Theatre of the Oppressed (2011) and its Arabic network in Lebanon, Morocco and Sudan, including about 700 forum theatrical activists.

The third artist who be rewarded during the festival is Bahraini artist Hussain Al Rifaie who is among the founders of Al Sawari Theatre Band in Bahrain. He has experience in the field of art management where he served as director of the Al Sarawi International Film Festival in Bahrain 2005-2006.  Moreover, he is also a member in the Board of Directors of the Arab Centre for Theater Training in Beirut since 1998 until now. Furthermore, he has the membership of the Arab Theater and Arts Project in Cairo in 1997-2003, and the Initiator Arab Youth Roaming Fund in 2005-2008. He also contributed to the management of about 60 training workshops, held in a number of Arab capitals under the supervision of international trainers. He has participated in a large number of artistic and theatrical as well as cultural gatherings in many Arab and international capitals. 

Al Sawari Theatre is the first theatrical festival specialised in plays for youth. It was launched in 1993, and since then it has showcased around 100 plays as well as many workshops. It also launched Ibrahim Khalfan Fund to support theatrical works and to encourage Bahrainis to produce plays.

The shows and participants in the festival will compete on several awards.

The 12th Al Sawari International Youth Theatre Festival livestreams on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Saturday 1 September to Monday 10 September.

Under the patronage of HE Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, the 12th Al Sawari International Youth Theatre Festival will take place in the period between September 1-10, 2018 at Bahrain Cultural Theatre. Supporting the event are Tamkeen as Strategic Partner, National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) as Platinum Sponsor and Batelco as Silver Sponsor.  Featuring 10 plays, the event has extended its reach this year, becoming an international platform after it was only hosting Arabic plays. This comes as part of the organisers’ keenness to enrich the theatrical movement in the Kingdom of Bahrain and open new horizons to enable youth involved in the theatrical field exchange their experiences. A selection panel composed of artists Hassan Abdulraheem, Ibrahim Khalfan and Jama’an Al Ruwaie reviewd 54 plays from all around the world, featuring various types of genres. However, only 10 were handpicked to be showcased during this year’s event. They are:

- Hadra Hura (Free Presence) – Syria/Germany

- Ta’a Sakena (Standstill T) – Egypt

- Sarkhat Alam (Painful Scream) – Algeria

- Flying Over the City – Armenia

- Time for Roaming – Russia

- Yellow Days – Georgia

- Al Muftah ( The Key) – Bahrain

- In the Good and Bad – Bahrain

- Laysa Ba’ad (Not Yet) - Tunisia

- Sa’amoot Fy Al Manfa (I Will Die in the Exile) – Honourary Play for the Festival from the Palestinian Theatre.

Meanwhile, the festival this year will feature the 1st Al Sawari International Conference for Youth which represents an international platform for theatricalists who will be able to share their experiences under the motto (Theatre..And Beyond Humanity). The conference will shed light on the most important intellectual and artistic developments in the world with a view to showcase modern theatrical experiences. The conference is expected to conclude with a joint statement.

Meanwhile, a workshop sponsored by the American Embassy will be conducted on the sidelines of the festival by American trainer Roberta Levitow. It will explore the importance of networking and creating bonds among theatricalists to cement cultural links among them.

The Arbitration panel will include several famous theatricalists. It will be chaired by Dr Mohammed Al Khuzaie from the Kingdom of Bahrain, Nasser Abdulmunem from Egypt and Johanna Jreseer from France.

Furthermore, the 12th Al Sawari International Youth Theatre Festival will honour several figures who enriched the theatrical movement in Bahrain and in the Arab world, including Bahraini poet and playwright Ali Al Sharqawi, who is considered a pioneering personality in writing plays and poems. He has won many awards at local and Arab levels, while his works have been translated into many languages. He authored more than 50 poetry books and plays. He is one of those who contributed in enabling Bahraini theatre to keep pace with the international’s.

The festival also will honour Nora Amin who is a writer (novelist, storyteller and playwright), translator, actress, theatre director and choreographer. She co-founded the Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Band at Cairo Opera House in 1993, then moved to work as a leading actress in the Independent Theatre’s performances at El Hanager Arts Centre until 2003. She founded Lamusica Independent Theatre Group (2000), where she directed and produced 37 performances in drama, music and dance. She founded the "Hikayatna" (Our Story) initiative (2009) for personal storytelling in public cafes. She also founded the Egyptian Theatre of the Oppressed (2011) and its Arabic network in Lebanon, Morocco and Sudan, including about 700 forum theatrical activists.

The third artist who be rewarded during the festival is Bahraini artist Hussain Al Rifaie who is among the founders of Al Sawari Theatre Band in Bahrain. He has experience in the field of art management where he served as director of the Al Sarawi International Film Festival in Bahrain 2005-2006.  Moreover, he is also a member in the Board of Directors of the Arab Centre for Theater Training in Beirut since 1998 until now. Furthermore, he has the membership of the Arab Theater and Arts Project in Cairo in 1997-2003, and the Initiator Arab Youth Roaming Fund in 2005-2008. He also contributed to the management of about 60 training workshops, held in a number of Arab capitals under the supervision of international trainers. He has participated in a large number of artistic and theatrical as well as cultural gatherings in many Arab and international capitals. 

Al Sawari Theatre is the first theatrical festival specialised in plays for youth. It was launched in 1993, and since then it has showcased around 100 plays as well as many workshops. It also launched Ibrahim Khalfan Fund to support theatrical works and to encourage Bahrainis to produce plays.

The shows and participants in the festival will compete on several awards.

 

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HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.