Text taken from the novel “The White Sheikh” by the Ruler of Sharjah
Sharjah: Aladdin Mahmoud
In the latest performances of the Sharjah Gulf Theater Festival, the Palace of Culture hosted yesterday evening, Sunday, the Omani show “Sidrat Al-Sheikh”, by the Salalah National Theater for Performing Arts, directed by Imad Al-Shanfari, with the participation of a group of actors.
The text of the work is taken from the novel “The White Sheikh”, by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, which tells about the details of a true story that took place at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and talks about an American young man named Johannes Paul, who was captured by an Omani Muhammad bin Aqil, a nine-year-old boy, adopted him as his son. His Highness, the Ruler of Sharjah, for investigation and research, visited a number of places, museums and documentation centers, and His Highness embroidered the details of a novel from the fabric of historical facts, in a language belonging to the abstaining plain.
His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah presents through fictional works his vision about reality and history in order to purify it from impurities of falsehood, push back slander and correct information related to the historical incident, and thus contribute to creating a different Arab and Islamic reality and current, as well as in order to create a relationship with the other by defeating false awareness and stereotypes The fabricated, and these are the essences of the meanings inherent in His Highness’s narratives, presented in a simple, interesting and enjoyable manner in order for the recipient to understand the purposes and meanings of the work, as the novel overlooks the ideas that resulted from the traditional relationship between East and West, and the implicit and declared conflict, with a creative and innovative approach that discusses many concepts relationship between the two parties.
For his part, Imad Al-Shanfari has restored the text of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and picked up many of the historical ideas presented that embrace the current reality, to create a story that focuses in its events and facts on the idea of internal conflict more within the East, specifically the Arab countries, but he benefited from many of the visions presented in The main narrative, especially regarding Abdullah’s story, is how he has imbibed Arab values and morals, to the point that he refused to go to his country and considered himself entirely Arab.
The story of the show opens on the story of Sheikh Muhammad, one of the notables of the Omani tribes, when he was sailing his boat at sea within the territorial waters of his country’s borders, only to be attacked by the fleet of a foreign western country, so that a battle took place between the two teams, in which Sheikh Muhammad was victorious, and he returned to his country and his tribe He was accompanied by Johannes, who gave him the name Abdullah, and adopted him amid strong objection by his cousin Saeed, but the first insisted on his position, and entrusted the boy to a teacher who would teach him the origins of the Arabic language.
The boy Abdullah grew up in that environment, and imbibed its culture and heritage, becoming fluent in language and even reciting poetry. This angered Saeed to the point of thinking about getting rid of Abdullah, after he asked a member of the tribe, Swillam, to kill him, which was not done, but Saeed’s grudges continued to increase with the days, especially since Abdullah had a love affair with Saeed’s daughter.
Events in the tribe continue in that situation, hidden conspiracies, sedition and intrigues, thanks to the presence of that stranger who threatens the position and position of many, especially Saeed, who is eager to succeed Sheikh Muhammad, as he thinks that the latter may give Abdullah the command after him, and in the midst of these fears the tribe is under attack From one of the neighboring tribes, a member of the tribe was killed, so that Sheikh Muhammad chased them for revenge, but he was killed by Issa Al-Aswad, one of the soldiers of that treacherous tribe.
The people of the tribe meet in order to study the matter and choose a new leader, but Abdullah, who was greatly affected by the death of his adopted father, insisted on revenge first amid great indolence on the part of Saeed and the rest of Sheikh Muhammad’s relatives, except for a few, so Abdullah decided to wage a battle of revenge with some soldiers His tribe, and indeed he was able to invade that tribe and take revenge on it, and the surprise was that Issa Al-Aswad, before Abdullah killed him, confessed that he had killed Sheikh Muhammad at the request of Saeed.
After his return from those battles, Abdullah tells the people of the tribe about that confession made by Issa Al-Aswad, and that news had a severe impact on the people who were concerned about Saeed, so that Abdullah killed him, and it was a surprise that the leadership of the tribe was assumed by Swailem, that person who did not have a great deal in the social hierarchy of the tribe.
Many approaches were made by Imad Al-Shanfari in his text, and pickups and dialogues he conducted with the novel “The White Sheikh”, by His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, in order to produce his story where Al-Shanfari focused on internal conflicts.
The director presented a lot of directorial solutions and visions that contributed to creating a show that was characterized by simplicity and belonged to “the abstaining plain”, where the work was distinguished by directness without the use of symbols and signs, so the show was characterized by visual and auditory pleasure, especially with the employment of songs, rhythms and live music, and the vocalist had a great role In preventing falling into monotony and boredom, the use of decoration was also innovative by dividing the wood into scenic panels. On the right was a Sidra tree that witnessed Abdullah’s childhood, while on the left was a decorative block.
The director also worked on creatively employing the background, while the musical band remained accompanying the show from the beginning to the end, while resorting to comedy and non-intrusive wit, as well as the use of popular and religious heritage such as scenes of the presence and others, so that the result is a very impressive visual image, and the acting performance came to complement That vibrant landscape painting, so that the work achieves a distinctive spectacle, with which the audience responded a lot.
During the applied symposium that followed the show, the critics and playwrights praised the text and many directorial solutions, and gave a special tribute to the traditional band and the vocalist, noting that the live music added a lot to the work, and played the starring role well deserved, as well as the acting performance was distinguished, pointing out that Actors are busy.
