The Lebanese play “Majdara Hamra” was shown for the first time outside Lebanon at the Mall of the Emirates Theater in Dubai. It was written and directed by Yahya Jaber, and starred the Lebanese artist Anjou Rayhan, during which she played the role of the three main characters in the play.
Five years after its show and success in Lebanon, the comedy monodrama “Majdara Hamra” was able to capture the hearts of audiences in Dubai and the Lebanese community in particular, as the entire amphitheater was filled with a unique and unique show that drew joy on the faces of the attendees.
The play tells the story of three women from southern Lebanon: Maryam, Souad, and Fatim. Each of them has her own story. Maryam, who among them was able to finish her studies and travel to France and complete her dream of writing and publishing, ended up divorcing her husband, Bassam, for refusing to have children, as she suffers from a lack of belonging. She does not know which land she belongs to, to Lebanon, her mother and her childhood sweetheart, or to France, where she longs for the atmosphere of Paris.
The second character is the weaning of the widow who lost her husband ten years ago, but she was able to overcome the loss and re-establish her husband’s work and raise her three children until they grew up and got married and each of them had his own life, except that after all these sacrifices and with all selfishness they reject their mother’s marriage, and even demand that she give up her marriage. All her possessions are for them and their children, even her house in which she resides, in return for giving her consent to her marriage.
As for Souad, she is the main central character in the story. She got married before she finished her dreams of completing her studies and becoming a doctor. Rather, she married a man who failed in his practical life and she justifies him. He marries her and also finds justifications for him, and he beats and abuses her since the beginning of their marriage, specifically during the “honeymoon”. She is still looking for justifications for his actions, to end up trying to put poison in the food he loves the most, which is “Majdara al-Hamra”, which her mother told her is the shortest way to the heart of the southern man, as this food is considered one of the famous meals in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese director, Yahya Jaber, confirmed to Al-Bayan that this is the first show to be held outside Lebanon, nearly five years after the play was shown. He said: «We chose Dubai as the first city to present the play outside Lebanon, and we are very proud of this choice, as it is the destination of Arab and international creators, and a multinational city and the Arab audience in general and the Lebanese in particular is wide and broad, as Dubai is characterized by its own artistic identity and it is nice to present our show in this The wonderful city, and in fact I was surprised by the wide audience who attended the show and it was really successful and heartwarming.
For her part, the artist Anjou Rayhan confirmed that she is very happy to be in Dubai and meet the public in this diverse and unique city that includes a large Lebanese and Arab audience that really contributes to the spread of the work well, stressing that she is trying through her performance to convey the beautiful message written by Yahya Jaber, which is to reject violence against Woman.
