Play draws on real-life experiences of Saudis

Yesterday was the finale of the Saudi play “Scholarship Students in Trouble”, which ran in King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh for five days.
The play focused on various issues facing Saudi students overseas, such as cultural bureaus falling short on providing services and assistance for students, the under-qualification of some students, and the relative lack in adopting Saudi talents and capabilities.
The play is part of the festival organized by Riyadh Municipality during the current mid-term vacation and started showing last Saturday. It starred the well-known actor Abd Alilah Al-Sinani.
Khalid Al-Baz, director of the play, spoke with Arab News. He explained the play drew on real-life experiences of Saudi scholarship students during their studies, and included both negative and positive experiences, since the goal of such plays, according to Al-Baz, is to present a balanced and fair view of students’ experiences.
The play attracted a full house throughout the days it showed despite the road blockages in Riyadh on Sunday and Monday due to the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit.
Al-Baz commented on the potential of Saudi theater given the seeming demand for it: “People want to attend good local plays, but there isn’t much overall support for theater. For example, a lot of good plays show for a week or so for lack of diverse venues as well as adequate advertising. If producers made more of an effort in securing different venues and longer show days, it would reflect positively on the maturity of Saudi theater.”
He also pointed out the need for families to attend plays, since most of those explore issues that affect the entire society and not only men. “It can always be arranged in such a way that our traditions are respected without excluding a large sector of the community.”
Many of the actors in the play are actual scholarship students who also participated with their experiences in the writing of the script. Among them are Naif Al-Fayiz, Muhammad Ali, Badr Al-Luhaid, and Muhammad Al-Sharif. Al-Sharif, a disabled student, plays the role of a disabled scholarship student with an invention that did not find support in his country, while being welcomed and adopted in a foreign country.
The play’s tone is that of comedy and suspense, and is about a students’ city that is hit by a storm, after which each of the students start getting threatening messages. When the power goes off in their apartment, strange disappearances occur.
Al-Baz emphasized the great support his Youth Theater Group received from Riyadh Municipality. “Even though this doesn’t fall under the municipality’s responsibilities, it graciously took on this role in encouraging Saudi theater.”
He said other institutions should take the lead, notably the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts and the Saudi Theater Association. “I have to say that the latter has been too preoccupied lately by internal conflict and private interests, which will hopefully change soon.”
He also noted that his group would take this play to different cities in Saudi Arabia soon.