Baghdad – IA – Fatima Rahma
Member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Theater Authority, Kuwaiti artist Muhammad Al-Mansour, praised Iraqi theater on Sunday, stressing that it has left strong imprints since the 1970s.
Al-Mansour told the (INA): “The Iraqi theater presented many works that convey the people’s concerns, and it has always competed strongly with its counterparts in the Arab countries and won awards.”
He added, “We used to participate in theatrical festivals, to learn about what Iraqi theater offers, as it often tells about our human reality as Arabs, socially and nationally, and has left strong imprints since the 1970s of the last century.”
He continued, “I encourage joint actions to achieve a cross-fertilization of ideas, cultures, and giving. I worked a lot with the great artist Saqr Al-Joud, who founded the Gulf Theater and presented Kuwaiti theater in particular and in general.”
Al-Mansour stressed that “theater has a message, which must be transmitted from one stage to another and one generation to another, and in every decade it appears in a new, different color. In order to emulate reality, you must be realistic, and you must not go too far or stray beyond your ideas and reach the recipient with your creativity to be in harmony with your presentation.”
He continued, “There is a quest for fame at the expense of the idea, meaning money first, in addition to social media that has distorted and changed the concept of culture, and some works are devoid of spirit.”
Regarding his new work, the artist Muhammad Al-Mansour explained, “I finished the series (Al-Khan), meaning the ship’s warehouse, whose events take place between Kuwait and Zanzibar. It is a real realistic idea that occurred at the end of the forties about two merchants from Kuwait and Zanzibar and what happens to their families. The work is co-directed by Nawal Al-Failakawi and Badr Al-Anzi, directed by me.” Hussein Nashti, and it will be shown in the holy month of Ramadan.”