Oman Participates in Sharjah GCC Theatre Festival

The Salalah National Band for Performing Arts is participating in the “Sharjah Gulf Theater Festival”, which will be held next February in the Emirate of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, after stopping due to the conditions of the Corona pandemic in the last period.

The troupe was chosen for the text of the play “Sidrat Al-Sheikh” to represent the Sultanate of Oman at the festival in its fourth session, among 15 scripts presented by Omani theater troupes.

And the play “Sidrat Al-Sheikh” written and directed by the writer Imad bin Mohsen Al-Shanfari, starring Abdullah Marei Al-Shanfari, Abdul-Malik Al-Shizawi, Amal Al-Nuwairiya, Hisham Saleh, Issa Ajzon, and Jihad Al-Yafei, with the participation of a group of artists.

The artistic staff consists of assistant director Ahmed Mujein Al-Rawas, director of scenography Khaled Al-Shanfari, and in the soundtrack Abdullah Jahnoun Al-Hadary, and in the costumes Tariq Kofan.

The play is based on a real history that took place in Dhofar and linked the drama of the author’s imagination to the Sidr tree that grows in the Arabian Gulf, where it was used by the population for many needs, so the play was written in a simple Arabic language to suit the context of the work.

It is worth noting that the Sharjah GCC Theater Festival was established in 2015, and it is organized once every two years at the Palace of Culture Theatre.

Participation files are sent to the Department of Culture three months before the festival, including the text and information related to the band, technical supplies, and a description of the scenes and the exhibition space.

In addition to the performances competition, the Sharjah GCC Theater Festival hosts a group of intellectual seminars and training seminars, as well as night talks that shed light on the reality of theater in the countries of the region, through the testimonies of artists from several generations.