My co-workers shoot questions at me like arrows:

“How come you don’t fast Ashura?”

“Why do you mourn this month?”

“Why do you go to hussainiya?”

I explain to them with an open heart.

If anyone’s interested about this tragedy, feel free to attend an Arabic play of Imam Al-Hussain (AS) called “Setting of his Sun” showing this month and the coming month too, three times a week at Al-Rasoul Al-Azam Theatre in Bneid AlGar. They charge KD 2.500 only. Ladies on Thursdays and Fridays. Men on Saturdays only from 8:00pm-10:30pm. To buy tickets call 9460711-9460722. (Kids 6yrs & up)

Jackie, here’s my review. I waited until now to write my full review on Kalila and Dimna because I didn’t want to spoil it for anyone who wanted to attend the play tonight.

It is a biographical story. There are five Acts in the play. Sulayman Al-Bassam takes us back to the Abbasid era. The play opens in Basra, Iraq. We see Ibn Muqaffa (a writer who presents opposing ideas in his work) at his home, having a conversation with a fellow friend who is hiding from the guards, and ironically later on is beheaded.

I was lost a bit because I didn’t expect to see a biography story of the writer himself to his dreadful fate. My mistake though I was chatting away with friends instead of reading the synopsis of the play. That’s why I didn’t get it. And I don’t have the priviledge of going to see the play again.

Anyways, I really liked the farce in the play, it reminds me so much of Shakespeare’s wittiness. I also liked how AlBassam cuts in and reads out parts of the dialogue of the original Arabic text. This is nothing new to me because I’ve seen this technique used by AlBassam in a play I attended years back.

I feel disappointed a bit because I really expected more in Part 1 of the play. I understood more of the play in Part 2, where the plot unfolds. But, I would’ve loved to see the battle between Abu Muslim’s army and the new Calipha’s army.

I loved the scene when Asia ‘the splendors of Asia’ drops to greet her husband’s corpse, who died disarmed in a schemed attack. One more thing I was hoping to see was better lighting effects because they were not so great. It shows that it wasn’t that professional.

All in all it was an excellent play. Sulayman Al-Bassam worked really hard to create the English version of this story. It’s not easy. The ideas presented are so innovative and creative in every way.

Enough about the play now. Yesterday, I met Jackie. It wasn’t so hard to spot her. She’s a such a sweet person. It was really nice to finally meet her.

Update: Click here to view AlBassam’s play.

I just found out from Jackie’s blog that Sulayman AlBassam is directing a play here in Kuwait and admission is free of charge. I’d really love to attend this! This guy is just so talented. I can’t wait to go. For more details about the play, I quoted this from Zaoum:

Acclaimed Kuwaiti writer-director Sulayman Al-Bassam presents his latest production: a radical adaptation of one of the masterpieces of Eastern culture, the fables of ‘Kalila wa Dimna.’

‘These tales combine the wisdom of India, the sophistication of Persia, and the poetry of the Arabs’. - Tah Hussein

Intended originally as a book of Council for Kings - literally, a mirror for Princes - these subtle and philosophical animal fables carry immense significance to all sections of Arab and Persian society, until this day.

From India, via Persia, the tales reached the Arab world through the pen of Ibn al-Muqaffa, court scribe, wit, and radical reformer.

This exciting new theatre production, commissioned by Dar El-Athaar El Islamiyyah, locates Ibn Muqaffa’s work in its original historical context - the dawn of the Abbasid revolution - one of the most turbulent moments of Islamic history, the resonances of which continue to be felt today.

Part-Shakespearean History, part modern political fable, the drama moves between dramatization of the metaphorical tales and the very real tragedy that unfolds around Al-Muqaffa’ himself, as he battles for reform in the midst of fervent revolutionaries, heretic poets, religious propagandists and a Calipha who names himself none other than “God’s shadow on this earth”.

This production, designed by the award-winning British designer Julia Bardsley brings together an international artistic team promising to produce a truly world-class visual, musical and dramatic feast.

“Al-Bassam’s work is about as original and pulse-quickening as you could wish” - The Times Newspaper, UK, 2004.

 P.S. As I understood, you can print out a free virtual ticket from Jackie’s Blog.

I never knew that we had the ‘busiest and best’ Little Theatre in Kuwait, Ahmadi area. It’s been established since 1948. How come I never heard of it before! You can book online too! Cooool …

The last time I attended a play in Kuwait, performed in English at Shamiya Theatre, was Hamlet in 2001, directed by a Kuwaiti actor/playwright Sulayman AlBassam (His Website: Zaoum Group). Below is a recent photo of Sulayman AlBassam.

And another one I went to see was Macbeth performed by a different group called ADG-Europe (can’t remember when though).