Posted in: Yemen Observer
Written By: Raghda Gamal
Article Date: Mar 21, 2009
Without theater, life would be miserable and poor, said Mr. Ahmed al-Sharabi, the head of cultural activities at the Al-Afif Culture Foundation as he opened the symposium on “The History of Yemeni Theater”, to mark World Theatre Day on March 27th.
Yahya Mohammed Saif, a researcher in the area of Yemen’s theatrical history said that Yemen has a rich history of theatre, including scripts written by Omar Abdullah Ba Makhrma, dating back to 1530.
There is a wide-variety of Yemeni literary arts, including texts, interviews, stories and legends, many of which depend on the dialogue of art, he said. Saif also discussed Yemen’s great theatrical structures; specifically mentioning the theatre behind the dam of Marib, which was very similar in style to those found in Athens or Rome.
Saif also referred to research carried out by Dr. Yusef Mohammed, who identified a number of archaeological inscriptions pertaining to the existence of a law for actors during the Sba’ai era. However he said the modern idea of theater only appeared in 1904 in Aden. Aden’s theatre was opened by Al-Hukoomah’ school band, and in 1910 the theatre staged its first play “Julius Caesar”.
Saif said that the theatre movement had gone through many stages of development in Yemen, and has been affected greatly by the times, and particularly by political events such as the First World War, which completely paralyzed theater in Yemen.
However after the war Yemen saw a second establishment phase, and by 1926 theater had started to rise once again until the advent of the Second World War.
He also presented different statistics on employees who had worked in theater since 1926, they showed that over the years Yemen had witnessed over 65 theater bands, 125 dramatists, and 500 scripts presented to the stage by the work of 43 directors. Interestingly though, Yemeni theatre has only ever attracted three critics and the lack of a national movement and interest shown by the Ministry of Cultural has led to a neglect of Yemen’s theatrical heritage and rich history.
Artist and researcher Ali Subait who was also present at the symposium agreed that the lack of interest shown by the Ministry of Culture has led to a decline in interest overall with regards to theater.
The ministry does not involve itself in the field of theater at all, and Subait insisted that Yemeni theatre had suffered greatly due to the lack of facilities across the governorates.
The living conditions of many of the countries artists remains poor, and reflects the vision of the political leadership in the country, he said. He talked about initiatives proposed to raise the level of awareness regarding theatre among the populace, but this did not gain the support of the authorities.
He also highlighted the importance of establishing adequate actor training programs through academic institutions and called for laws to protect actors.
He finalized by calling for the establishment of a forum in which to discuss theatre related matters that would equal the Ministry of Culture.
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