Theatre of Bahrain
The theatre of Bahrain in its present form originated in the early 20th century, after the introduction of formal education in the country. Though shadow plays and puppet shows were previously widespread in Bahrain, European-style drama plays were first introduced in schools and plays written by Arab dramatists would be later included in the school curriculum.
As civil society became more interested in theatre and influenced by the likes of Tawfiq al-Hakim and Saadallah Wannous, Bahrain experienced a golden age by the 1970s of playwrights such as Ali Al Shargawi, Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh, Aqil Sawar and Yousef al-Hamdan. The country hosts three notable theatre companies: Awal Theatre, Al-Jazira Theatre and the Al-Sawari Theatre companies. In 2012, the 1001-seated National Theatre of Bahrain was opened.
History
Archaeological excavation of sites dating back to the Dilmun civilisation of the Bronze Age in Bahrain have revealed the existence of a ritualistic polytheistic religion that was believed to contain elements of theatre. However, limited information is known about it. In the 7th century AD, Bahrain converted to Islam. Islam did not encourage human representation or drama; however, the events of Ashura inspired a form of dramatic expression called Ta'zieh. These dramatic re-enactments occur during the Islamic month of Muharram and commemorates the Battle of Karbala where the grandson of the Prophet Muhammed, Imam Hussain, and his companions were killed. Furthermore, there exists two related forms of drama in the Islamic world; Maqama and shadow plays.Aside from this, other forms of performance art in Bahrain included puppet theatres and shadow plays, which were popular between the Middle Ages up to the 18th century. European drama plays were first brought to the Arab world as a result of the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798, eventually reaching the island nation of Bahrain.
20th century
Drama in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf was pioneered by Kuwait and Bahrain in the early 20th century. The first recorded theatre production was A Judge from God's Will which was performed in 1925 at the Hidaya Al-Khalifa Boys School in Muharraq. As a result of the formal education system in place in Bahrain, plays written by European playwrights, Arab and eventually Bahraini dramatists were staged by students and teachers in school. Religious, moralist and historical plays were primarily written by Syrian and Egyptian writers and performed at school. The earliest credited pioneers of Bahraini theatre were the two poets Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh and Abdulrahman Almoawda, whose plays in the 1950s were primarily based on historic figures and events in Islamic Arab history. Influenced by the likes of Egyptian playwright Ahmed Shawqi, both writers authored a combined ten plays, with Almoawda basing his plays on historical characters in Arab history such as Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami.In the 1940s, literary societies began expressing interest in amateur theatre, eventually culminating in the establishment of multiple theatre companies and a generation of Bahraini playwrights by the 1970s. In its formative years, Bahraini theatre placed a heavy emphasis on the translated works of English playwrights such as Shakespeare; however, as time progressed, it went on to espouse Arabic plays from Egypt and Syria. Eventually, a home-grown dramatic movement was born in the 1970s. Notable writers from this time include:
- Ali Al Shargawi, who primarily produced children's plays,.
- Aqil Sawar, who was a realistic author and playwright of Al-Nawkhidha and Al Baraha,
- Yousef al-Hamdan was an experimental dramatist and respected academic critic, who published his memoirs Al-Jathoum in 1990.
- Amin Salah was a novelist and later-turned dramatist who gained recognition after rewriting Romeo and Juliet, titled Romeo al-Fareeg in 1988. Other works were satire of current events such as Al-Jutah on capitalism.