The Three Cultures Foundation in collaboration with the Sharjah National Theatre and the Government of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates
Presented on 27 April at 20:30h at the headquarters of the Fundación Tres Culturas.
NIMROD
Play written by His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi. Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. Directed by Moncef Souissi. The play is performed in Arabic with English subtitles.
As human beings, we are ephemeral
However, the theatre remains as long as life endures.
(Shaykh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi)
Synopsis
Nimrod is a historical drama about stories and events from ancient history, referenced in the Bible, which, in some ways, may resemble some in modern times.
Nimrod bin Canaan, king of Babylon and Assyria, claimed divinity for himself. He was unjust and despotic, and after annihilating many innocent and peaceful people of Babylon, he stole their money and appropriated their property. But divine justice arranged for his life to end at the hands of the oppressed and downtrodden, by ordering them to strike him with their shoes on his head to remove a gnat that had got into his brain, threatening his life.
So this play is an appeal to all oppressors to remove injustice and spread peace and equality among people.
The play is performed in Arabic with English subtitles (translated by Dr. Assir Ali).
The Sharjah National Theatre
The Sharjah National Theatre, a civilian theatre company and public interest institution, is based in the Emirate of Sharjah, and its activities and productions are supported by government agencies.
Its artistic activities began in 1975, although they did not officially begin until the publication of decree number 76 of 1 November 1978. It began, then, a journey of collective work, either to write or to stage plays; a journey in which we opened the doors to receive the theatrical experiences of both the Gulf area and other Arabs, working for the dissemination of artistic and cultural awareness, and producing dramatic works of significant content and commitment to social causes, in order to deal with them by forming judgement through the performing arts.
In addition to having performed 85 different theatrical works during our long professional career, we seek to consolidate our collaboration with other theatres, as well as artistic and literary cooperation with cultural institutions around the world.
Throughout its history, our theatre, which has won important awards, has taken part in various intellectual, cultural and artistic meetings, both local and Arab.
The company publishes the magazine "Al-Rolah", which specialises in the world of theatre. It also organises theatrical workshops to teach and prepare new members who join the company every year.
It has an extensive library with numerous dramatic texts, volumes of theatrical studies and research, as well as a video library with most of the plays performed by the local theatre as well as by other Gulf and Arab theatres.
The company has been honoured to be able to produce and perform seven of the eight plays written by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, which places it at the forefront of state theatre companies.
Currently, the Board of Directors of the Sharjah National Theatre is chaired by artist Ahmad Al Jasmi.
A word from the Director
Making a scene
It's my job... it's my task...
I don't care about theatrical literature without what deepens visual scenic expression.
Theatre, for me, is figures and images, tints and colours, shapes and forms, masses and volumes, words and sounds, rhythms and melodies?
Theatre is freedom and expressions entangled and assembled. Theatre is a visual act "furyah". And the spectator needs everything that makes the eye enjoy before the ear.
I begin with the text, to overcome it with proposals that I formulate and that, agreeing with it, enrich it by means of dramatic language and the vocabularies of aesthetic expression, without attacking the original text.
Theatre being a space open to all forms of expression, I am subjectively inclined towards the theatre of the actor who plays all our roles in real life. Because I don't care about the past, except when it relates to our present...
In the play Nimrod I did not find literary verbiage, chatter and verbiage, but an intense dramatic language. Therefore, I decided to work on the meanings and suggestions for linking the past with the present, deepening the vital relationship and communication between actor and spectator, in order to facilitate their communion through the sense of universal citizenship, responsibility and common feeling towards the world.
Free entrance until full capacity is reached, prior registration at: