Shakespeare in Yemen: the return of theater in the face of the tragedy of war

“To be or not to be”

: soldiers in arms and period costumes on the stage of a building dating from the British colonial era, the famous monologue of

resounds in Arabic in an unprecedented adaptation in Yemen, an extremely rare event in this war-torn country.

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Between moral dilemmas and a tragic power struggle, William Shakespeare's emblematic play has a powerful echo at the gates of the Red Sea, in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, devastated for more than eight years by a bloody conflict between the pro-government fighters to Houthi rebels.

The former are supported by neighboring Saudi Arabia, the latter by Iran, the two great rivals of the Arab-Persian Gulf.

Organized in partnership with the British Council, the ten performances of

sold out in early January in Aden, a government-controlled southern city that became its temporary capital after the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014.

"Old Dream"

“

,” rejoices the director of the play Amr Gamal, who also directed

, one of the few Yemeni feature films made in recent years.

"

," he says.

However, the director expected a "

" audience, the general public being rarely fond of foreign works.

But the success of the play will allow other performances this year, he assures.

Read alsoBeing Hamlet in Bussang

The troupe performs in the precincts of parliament, a historic building that dates from the strong British colonial presence in a strategic city located on the Gulf of Aden, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Marwan Mafraq, assistant to the director, evokes “

” finally realized.

"

“, he told AFP.

But, beyond this piece, the artistic environment has become very restricted in Yemen because of the conflict, regrets Marwan Mafraq, when the country was known for its very rich history and culture.

The war has devastated this country of 30 million people, facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with a permanent threat of large-scale famine.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced, according to the UN.

Love and peace

The troupe was trained remotely via the Zoom app for two years by the Globe Theater in London and the Volcano Theater in Wales.

The British Council, which oversaw this cooperation, told AFP its "

" to allow "

".

"

", explains to AFP Omar Majalad, who plays several roles including that of Guildenstern, friend of Hamlet.

"

", confides the

If, like many artists around the world, the actress Nour Zaker qualifies

as a play "

", she particularly had to face, as a woman, "

", in a very conservative country.

“

,” she told AFP.

But the spectators say they are "

" for these cultural events, like Heba Al-Bakri, who came to watch the play.

“

,” she told AFP after one of the performances.

Fadi Abdelmalik “

he too will see many other artistic works in the future.

Yemen should, he told AFP, “

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