JEDDAH, 16 March 2008 — Saudi women will tonight be able to attend the Fourth Saudi Drama Festival at the King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh — the first time ever in the festival’s history. However, their attendance to the 12-day event will strictly be confined to seats in the audience.
The event includes the showing of 10 Saudi plays by drama groups from across the Kingdom, including Taif, Dammam, Jeddah, Najran, Qassim, Madinah, Al-Hasaa and Riyadh.
As is the case at all government-sponsored drama groups, women are not only prohibited from being actors and directors, they are also banned from watching shows. In fact, they are also denied permission from attending dramas held at the annual Janadriyah festival.
“We don’t have a problem excluding women from the scripts. After so many years now, we’re used to writing and performing plays without women characters. That has never been a problem for us,” said Ibrahim Assiri, general manger of the Taif Drama Group, which is to kick-start the festival tomorrow with their play “A State of Anxiety.”
Although there is no law preventing women from appearing on stage, Saudi custom and tradition stops them from participating and being a part of the audience. Even in a city like Jeddah, known for being more liberal, young girls of eight and nine were prevented last July from attending a children’s play called “The Return of the Squirrel,” which was held at Jeddah’s King Fahd Coastal City and run by the Jeddah Drama Group.
In spite of an obscure ban preventing women from acting on stage — although they act on television — Saudi women do not lack the ability to act. Behind closed doors and in front of only women audiences, Saudi women do perform. They have also lately found their way onto the big screen in several movies.
“I have to say, if men have no problem excluding us from their scripts, then we’re braver and more talented in taking men’s parts in our shows. I played Happy Loman in Miller’s ‘Death of the Salesman’ in college,” said Sarah Mohammed, an English literature graduate from the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.
“We all know that the Shakespearean theater had boys acting as women. But that was in the 16th century. The greatest playwright in the whole world, William Shakespeare, did not altogether exclude women from his plays,” she added.
The festival, which was stopped for eight years due to financial difficulties, is resuming its activities this year with a bang.
The festival’s organizers, a committee formed by the Ministry of Culture and Information, has not only invited local drama groups but has also invited playwrights from several countries, including Egypt, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, to hold lectures and workshops for an audience thirsty for theater.
Attendees — who have all been given personal invites to avoid attracting possible troublemakers — include both men and women. For the first time, they will all be seated in one hall. Men will be seated on the first floor and women will be seated on the second floor.
At tonight’s opening, Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Madani will launch the festival by honoring 15 pioneer Saudi dramatists for their efforts to nurture the Saudi drama scene. However, a question remains: when will Saudi women be honored with the chance to take part on the stage? For further information visit: www.sauditf.com.
