UAE Wins Four Awards At Gulf Theatre Festival For People Of Determination In Kuwait
The UAE won five gold medals at the 5th Gulf Theatre for People of Determination held in Kuwait between 3rd and 9th December, 2019, apart from earning plaudits for the success of the play "1+1=1", all of it supervised by the Ministry of Community Development.
During the participation of the Ministry of Community Development at the Gulf Theatre Festival, Mohamed Al Ghafli won the "best actor award", Abdulla Al Jarwan won for "best sound effects", Nabeel Al Mazmi for "best composition", while "1+1=1" won the best-integrated show award.
The play reflected the efforts of the Ministry of Community Development in supporting the empowerment and inclusion of the People of Determination. The play embodies the influential ideas, images and scenes with realistic visions when dealing with the People of Determination. Five Emirati actors, three of whom were People of Determination, took part in the play written and directed by Al Mazmi. The play is inspired by American writer Edward Albee's "Zoo Story" and is part of the fight club novel.
Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman, Director of Welfare and Rehabilitation for People of Determination at the Ministry of Community Development, stated that the ministry’s participation at the Gulf Theatre Festival was based on involving the People of Determination in acting, sharing their reality with the members of the community and not isolating these categories. The purpose of the screenplay was to transfer their ideas to a broader community in order to achieve inclusion and empowerment. It reflected the efforts and visions of the Ministry of Community Development to reinstate the people of determination as active members of the community.
Bin Sulaiman elaborated that half of the actors suffered from visual and physical impairment, noting that the goals of this play were to reassure that the inclusion of the People of Determination was not limited to their close relationships only but to reach different members of the community and inform them of their daily lives and pressures. The ministry makes great efforts to change the society’s misconceptions of the people of determination that they always need help, cannot live independently and have limited productivity and unable to reach distant goals.
Al Maazmi spoke about the characters of the play that were presented by Mohammed Al Ghafli and Mohammed Ishaq and their significant roles in the play. The first character that Al Ghafli played is that of a blind person who is recognised for his positive attitude and the impact it has on the lives of his family and children. He is very successful in managing his time and investing efforts, he is also psychologically, socially balanced and financially stable. His job as a proofreader reflects a strong vision and far-sightedness. The second character Ishaq played is of an ordinary member of the community who does not have any visual, hearing or physical impairments but his negative behaviour and attitude resemble an unbalanced character and attitude which pollutes the lives of the community around him.
Al Maazmi said, "The title of the play (1+1=1) demonstrates the power of passive people and influence to capture the mind and behaviour of others; the story embodies a hidden symbolic meaning which is the inclusion of people of determination in the community. The idea of the scenario is based on an unbalanced dialogue between a normally stable person and another from the people of determination. In the play, the stable person plays a negative role while the person of determination is positive. Given the strong influence of passive energy in any community that cannot be without social, economic, psychological, and behavioural problems, this passive person controls the behaviour of the normal, balanced person to the point of turning him into a "killer".
The scenario symbolises the crisis of modern man and the impact of capitalism on the aspects of his life in light of the psychological pressures he is experiencing under the influence of work or material pressures, in addition to the daily and social routine formed by contemporary life, which transformed man into a machine, as it stripped him of feelings.
