Who will save Arab theatre?

Today, more than ever, theatre is a necessity for individuals and communities alike. Theatre provides space for dialogue at a time where racism and political tension are at an all-time high. It also provides a human space in a world increasingly dominated by robots and automation.

In addition to being a safe space in a world full of violence, hatred, and intolerance, theatre helps build bridges. Today, more than ever, theatre needs its audience back.

Rich history of Arab theatre

As Arabs coming from a rich history of theatre, we mustn't throw in the towel and allow theatre to disappear.

During its golden era — which spanned from the 1950s until the end of the 20th century — the grandeur of Arab theatre was evident in the many festivals held in various Arab states.

Hordes of masses and intellectuals of all classes and backgrounds flocked to these festivals, basking in the well-deserved pride in our theatrical creativity, skills, and commitment to artistic values just as much as social ones.

Despite its diversity, Arab theatre seemed to always flow in harmony. We had a host of schools of thoughts and artistic inclinations: Brechtian theatre, poor theatre, the theatre of cruelty (conceptualised by Antonin Artaud), and historical theatre, which explored the depths of Arab history and its major milestones and transformations, not with the purpose of exploring the past as much as learning from it in the present and future.

Theatre reflected the progress, development, and dreams of Arab nations and their commitment to leave their best, most refined, and most lasting cultural imprint.

Each theatrical production seemed to carry its own intellectual, experimental, social, and humanitarian legacy, adding to the wealth of not only Arab theatre, but international theatre as well.

Where did these masterpieces go?

Today, we wonder where all these serious and experimental theatrical masterpieces went? What happened to their scripts, talented directors and actors, and masterful cinematography and choreography?

Back when they could compete in the global drama landscape, our gems of theatrical works seemed too big not only for our Arab world, but for the entire globe.

What became of these masterpieces? Were they buried in oblivion? We know that most of them were recorded on camera, so where are the recordings? Are they gathering dust in some old drawer, like some kind of rare antique or one-hit wonder?

Not even the slightest trace of these wonderful serious and experimental works is visible on television screens today. Where did all the oeuvres of the Lebanese, Syrian, Moroccan, Iraqi, Tunisian, Egyptian, Sudanese, Algerian, and Gulf theatres go?

Why don't we air them on our modern television screens? After all, these works carry no risks or dangers, nor do they pit people against each other.

If they did, our states would not have supported, funded, encouraged, and cared for their theatres, which was perhaps one of the few things Arab leaders did right. In fact, they even took pride in such masterpieces that contributed to the Arab renaissance and openness and respected artistic, national, and social values.

Hope for Arab theatre remains

Today, our screens are overflowing with commercial, lousy works that could not be further from the true art of theatre. But there is hope in the legacy that Arab theatre geniuses left for the new generation, who can translate their dreams into reality on the stage.

There is also hope in the keenness of Arab leaders to support theatre and reignite that creative flame that brought honour to Arabs and went down in history as a cultural national legacy that will never die.