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Monodrama festival in Fujairah in December

FUJAIRAH - As part of Fujairah's endeavours to boost the cultural and theatrical movement in the city, a new international monodrama festival is scheduled to take place at Dibba Al Fujairah Theatre for the first time in the UAE from December 2 to 12.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Mohammed Saeed Al Dhanhani, Amiri Court Director and the organiser of the event, said: "Hosting this event in Fujairah is the idea of His Highness Shaikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Fujairah, who wanted to organise an event that showcases the art of drama free from the effects of competition and the pursuit of prizes."

More than eight Arab countries and a number of Western countries are participating in the monodrama festival, Mr Al Dhanhani said, pointing out that the main objective of the forthcoming festival is to draw people's attention to one of the aspects of expressive drama, namely monodrama, which is identifed as the performance of sole presenter of his/her act.

"The festival will encourage artistes, writers, researchers and theatrical groups to participate in the festival that can explore their hidden talents."

Mr Al Dhanhani added that apart from the main activities, i.e., monodrama performance, a number of additional activities, including open discussions, will be held to highlight various outstanding and important features of each performance. A symposium on the art of monodrama will be organised on the sidelines of the festival and with the participation of a number of experts and specialists in the field. "We are proud to say that the forthcoming festival is considered to be the first international event that brings together, in an Arab country, many monodrama (foreign and Arab) artistes," he said. Explaining the reasons for not holding a competition and awarding prizes to best performances, Mr Al Dhanhani said: "It would be unfair to evaluate and compare the performance of Arab artistes with that of foreign actors, due to the big difference in their cultural background and because this form of art is much developed in the West than in the Arab countries. A souvenir will be presented to all the participants to commemorate the event."

"The festival does not aim to create competition among the participants, but it mainly seeks to provide a good opportunity for many artistes to meet and exchange experiences," said Mr Al Dhanhani. Besides the UAE, the countries taking part in the festival include Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, South Africa, Germany, France, Iran, Iraq and Syria.