In a magical and cohesive collaboration between Resuscitation Theatre and an award-winning Emirati playwright, Abu Dhabi is about to be treated to an omnibus of inspiring and thought-provoking theatre.
Spread across nine days, Maggie Hannan’s Resuscitation Theatre will showcase four of Saleh Karama Al Aameri’s scripts which are being translated into English for the first time. TOAD sat with Saleh, Maggie and director Faisal Salah to learn more about the collaboration.
‘Saleh came to see our last play, Al Malek, at the Emirates Writers’ Union and that’s how we connected. Then Saleh sent us these wonderful plays to me, and they were fantastic,’ Maggie says of how the relationship began. The playwright and the group came together for a previous collaboration that was called One More Try after Saleh saw Resuscitation Theatre’s production.
All the works were written originally in Arabic, so Faisal worked with Saleh to translate the scripts into English while maintaining the integrity of the works. ‘We tried to make it the best way possible without losing the essence of Saleh’s work, so we sat down with that in mind and hopefully we have achieved that,’ Faisal says. Maggie says she was instantly enticed by the works. ‘His plays are very thought-provoking. When I first read his plays I thought I was reading Pinter or Beckett.’
‘Writing, for me, is blending the beauty and poetry of the Arabic language with my own imagination and trying to sculpt a piece of language that can go deeper and through cultures,’ Saleh explains.
In this union of more than 15 cultures, Maggie says it has been a collaborative work between Saleh, herself and the directors. Saleh says he is proud of how his plays have been performed. ‘They have been acted by groups in Egypt and Tunisia and some here in the UAE, but when Resuscitation Theatre started acting them out, I think they have been most faithful to the scripts themselves.’
His plays are each unique and inspiring, with a depth that has translated effectively to Resuscitation Theatre’s directors and actors. ‘Every playwright wants to see their work acted, and I feel that the work being done right now and the acting is suitable for the writing with the way they are done. My plays have been done many times in Arabic but I have never been this comfortable with a group that has acted out my plays,’ says Saleh.
Ever humble, Saleh sits in on the rehearsals, and thoughtfully observes – sometimes he is shocked by the effects of his writing and the Resuscitation Theatre cast. ‘Just now, I was sitting in on a reading and I saw the actor acting out my own writing and I started shedding tears, thinking “did I actually write this, that is being acted so well? Did I actually write and produce this myself?” It touched me that I could write something so well acted.’
It’s a positive experience for all, immersing cultures. ‘We have done Shakespeare before, we have done a lot of the classics – but it’s refreshing to have the writer there to ask questions. Every time we want to know a certain meaning we can ask, he doesn’t mind if we understand it differently but it’s good to know sometimes what he was thinking when he was writing. It’s just brilliant, I appreciate it so much,’ Faisal tells us.
There are four plays with five directors, all written by Saleh. His inspiration comes from a combination of experience and imagination. ‘For example Evening Chat, which Faisal is directing, came from observing people making small talk,’ he says as he tells of one of the artistic processes. ‘It could be interesting or it could just be everyday conversation. I would just sit places and listen to people and start to notice what people are saying and how they are saying it. I read Dostoyevsky, who said that innocent questions can lead to big answers.’ Saleh continues with an anecdote he recalls with a grin. ‘A long time ago, I was sitting with this man I knew drinking tea. This person was working for a big thief who was rich, and I knew that he was a thief and I asked this man “Is your boss rich?” And somehow it led to this guy spilling all his secrets to me, and I was surprised that one simple question could spill all these confessions.’
Performances of all four plays will be split over two programmes (two plays in each programme), spread across the dates of November 13-16 and November 20-23, all held at the National Theatre at 8pm. Tickets
are Dhs75, Dhs50 for students. For more information visit www.resuscitationtheatre.com.
