Amani Al-Thamari: Yemeni actress talks about the joys and challenges of her passion
Amani Al-Thamari is a theatre and television actress. She started acting on the stage at the Cultural Theater in Taiz. Al-Amani has now been a regular actress in Sana’a for the last six years, appearing in both theater and television productions.Raghda Gamal
For the Yemen Times
Published:20-01-2011
-Can you speak a little about how began your career?
Good luck allowed me to begin my career performing in popular television productions such as ‘Keny Meni’ and ‘The Trip’, directed by Ha’el Al- Selwi, who also helped to introduce me to this industry from the outset.
I also performed in several successful plays during the early stages of my career, such as ‘To Whom?’ written by Mabkhout Al-Nowaera and directed by the female director Ansaf Alawi. I can’t remember all the plays that I have worked on. There are hundreds of them.
-How old were you when you knew you could act?
When I was in the fourth grade I fell in love with the stage of my school theater. I used to act in school productions.
-Did your family encourage you to do this as a career?
Everybody in my family encouraged me; my parents, brothers and even my uncles, who said to me, “We are with you, so keep on going”.
My colleagues in the artistic community also have encouraged me a lot since I began. I remember when the actor Abdul-Salam Zalat said to me that, “You have to act and be serious about it”. All, without any exceptions, supported and encouraged me.
-How do you think society views you as an actress?
Several years ago people’s perceptions about acting were limited and to be a Yemeni actress was seen as shameful. These days however the situation is getting better, although it is still the case that some people do not accept the work of actresses. Nevertheless, provided that the audience is interested in art, the reactions are extremely encouraging, such as when people come up to take pictures with me and old ladies who encourage me when they see me at wedding parties. Such reactions make me feel happy that I was able to reach to the audience.
-What do you think of the situation of the Yemeni actresses in general?
On a professional level Yemeni actresses may find very good opportunities to perform but on a financial and psychological level she gets nothing! Yemeni actresses have never been honored by government agencies such as the Ministry of Culture.
Take me as an example, I performed at the Culture Center theater every Wednesday and participated in most of the plays until it’s became my second home. Yet I still didn’t get any encouragement nor honored by officials.
-Do you feel any regret at choosing this path?
I have never felt any regret because acting was my childhood dream and therefore long before I entered for this field I thought about the consequences of this decision. Acting is my love and I will never regret it.
-You accepted the role of Amal in the hit play ‘Ma’ak Nazel’. Tell me about this.
When I received a call from the director Amr Gamal asking me to play the role of Amal in the last performance at Sana’a, I did not hesitate for one moment, even though I was afraid because of the success and popularity of the play. But Amr’s trust in me made me decide to play the role perfectly.
So I traveled immediately to Aden to start the rehearsal which lasted for four days. The crew helped me all the time and made me feel as though I was an old friend of theirs. Their confidence in me led to the success of this role.
Also what helped me was that, despite the play’s popularity, I did not watch the play before taking this role and this helped me to avoid imitating the original actress.
Thank God that everyone that saw the show praised us and we received good reviews from the media.
-Do you think that the Culture Center let you down when it did not provide you with enough microphones, thus affecting the sound quality of that production?
Well, I felt bad at the beginning, but successful actors and actresses can adapt to the circumstances around them and deliver their voice to end of the theater. So I did not feel that this problem affected my performance.
-Tell me about your role as Lauzon in the Yemeni version of Molière’s play ‘The Imaginary Invalid’.
The Yemeni version of Molière’s play ‘The Imaginary Invalid’ was directed by Adel al-Hakim with the support of the French Cultural Center. We trained for this play for almost five months and performed for two days in Sana’a and also in Aden and Ibb.
Despite the lack of support from the Ministry of Culture, we performed a wonderful work and we even performed this play at the International Festival of Theatre in Algeria. During this performance in Algeria I played the role of Lauzon as well as the role of Angelique, which was a surprise to the public, especially because of the different personalities between the child and girl, Lauzon, and the young lady in love, Angelique.
In Algeria we received an honorable mention for our special performance. We are also willing to perform this play in other countries.
-What is your favorite role?
My favorite roles are those two that we have discussed; the role of Amal in Ma’ak Nazel and the role of Lauzon in ‘The Imaginary Invalid’. Lauzon was a very strong role and the role of Amal in Ma’ak Nazel allowed me the honor of working with Amr Gamal.
-It has been observed that in the theatre productions you and your fellow actors appear very talented in playing strong roles, yet in front of the TV cameras the strength of the performances appear lower. Why this huge difference?
Because the theater is always available for young actors. We can produce a play without incurring large costs. To present a hit play you only need passion and talented actors and we have both of these.
On the other hand, TV work is quite different. It’s seasonal work that takes place in only one month of the year, so you find the majority of actors trying to nail any role in any series without focusing on what really suits them.
Furthermore, the small working budgets do not help television drama develop. Till this moment you’ll find TV actors not getting paid for their roles by the Yemeni TV channels and, of course, the Ministry of Culture as usual does not offer any financial support for actors.
It is true that the situation is getting a little better as we are now working with three cameras instead of just one. Yemen has very talented actors and creative directors but there are no governmental organizations that support art.
-What role do you wish to play that you feel would give a meaningful message to Yemeni society?
I wish to play a role that discusses the issue of child labor. I want to play a role of a girl in the streets.
-What is your next job?
The only thing that I’m sure of is that I’ll keep performing to the audience at the best of my ability.
-Do you have words of thanks to anyone that you would like to send through the Yemen Times?
I would like to thank all the wonderful directors who I’ve worked with, such as Abdulaziz Al- Harazi and Amr Gamal, and also to all those who helped me since the beginning.
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