Sharjah Desert Theater Festival kicks off, highlighting Emirati culture

Dr Sheikh Sultan watches festival’s opening performance, Emirati drama salum arabianwritten by Sultan Al Neyadi, directed by Mohammed Al Ameri, and produced by the Sharjah National Theater Group, featuring some of the country’s most renowned theater artists.

The play embodies the environment of the Bedouin in the UAE and its customs, traditions, values ​​and heritage through three intergenerational stories.

It highlights the wisdom and values ​​of generosity, courage and altruism, and sings of the high meaning of the people of this wonderful land.

The program includes many performance arts including narration, poetry, performances, and scenes involving horses and camels in a unique theatrical space.

Five theater performances from the UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Mauritania are part of the festival, in addition to dozens of theater artists from most Arab countries.

The festival combines new theatrical solutions, performing arts and traditional stories created by the Bedouin society.

The festival venue, designed to highlight and enhance the beauty of the Arabian environment, has been prepared on a large scale in Al Kihaif, so that it simulates the general form of a desert village, and the participating performances are shown and viewed in a space surrounded by dunes, valleys and tents , watched by viewers.

In conjunction with theater performances, the festival organizes daily critical talks that shed light on the technical aspects of participating performances and discuss their themes and techniques. The program that accompanies the festival night also includes various activities to exchange knowledge and vision, and to build bridges of communication and interaction between participants and guests.

In addition to exhibitions and competitions celebrating Bedouin culture, the Sharjah Desert Theater Festival organized an intellectual workshop titled ‘Desert Theater and Identification of Arabian Wonders’.

The festival also hosts dinners and daily performances to reflect the diversity of the popular heritage of the participating countries.

The Ruler of Sharjah was received by Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman, Ministry of Statistics and Community Development; Sheikh Saud bin Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Director, Sharjah Digital Office; Major General Saif Al Zari Al Shamsi, Commander-in-Chief, Sharjah Police; Chairman, Ministry of Culture Abdullah Mohammed Al Owais; Ali Salem Al Midfa, Chairman, Sharjah Airport Authority; Mohammed Obaid Al Zaabi, Head of Protocol and Hospitality; Dr. Khaled Omar Al Midfa, Chairman, Sharjah Media City; as well as a number of officials and a group of artists.