 Sulayman Al-Bassam
William Shakespeare, believe it or not, didn’t write about Kuwait. But thanks to this renowned playwright and director, one of the Bard’s tragedies has been given an Arabic twist
Words_Joe Laurence Photography_Mario K
“It’s a turbulent and messy space,” says Sulayman Al-Bassam, nodding his head over tea in a Kuwaiti hotel lobby. The actor, director and writer is talking about his bold reinterpretations of Shakespeare plays; political, inquisitive and often controversial work – not the easiest territory for an artist to inhabit in this region. “Shakespeare deals with power,” he continues in his cut-glass English accent. “Oligarchies, potentates, the relation of religion and power… Pick up a newspaper. These are all major issues of contention in the Arab world.”
Al-Bassam has been a busy man since his days studying literature in Edinburgh. He formed the Zaoum Theatre in 1996, followed in 2002 by the Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre, a group of theatre practitioners, musicians and visual artists dedicated to the production of challenging and innovative theatre. His most recent project is a reworking of Richard III – commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed in Arabic with English subtitles projected onto the stage. “It’s a process of adaptation and free variation,” he says of the interpretation process. “We utilise Shakespearean themes and the raw material of the plays, but translate it back to English and not all of it would be familiar.”
“It’s been extraordinary,” Al-Bassam says of Richard III – An Arab Tragedy’s success. “When we played in Kuwait it marked a real watershed. Political columnists were writing about the event; women in furs and diamonds, standing at the back because there were no seats, were weeping with emotion. In Damascus, the President showed up unannounced – this tells you the thirst people have here for debate.” His play had clearly struck a chord. “It’s more about the relations and tensions in this region than it is about Shakespeare,” he says.
For any artist operating in the Middle East, there are limits on what can be said. Yet Al-Bassam manages to speak with a true voice. “Kuwait remains one of the freest places to speak,” he says. “The keys to all the major theatres in the Arab world are held by the state, one way or another. I’m an individual theatremaker, without associations with state bodies… so I get less distribution in the Arab world.”
The conversation turns to Kuwait itself. Al-Bassam is patriotic, choosing to devote his time to furthering artistic progress in his home country rather than move somewhere with a greater theatrical tradition. His reasons for this are clear. “The inspiration for my work is derived from the issues facing this region,” he asserts. “I have an idealistic belief in the power of theatre to change reality, however we measure that. There’s an urgency to the work – this is politically engaged and contemporary stuff.”
“Kuwait has long been a significant trading post, and was the leading Gulf country of the last century,” he continues. “We had the first written constitution in 1962, an independent judiciary, high levels of freedom of speech and huge publishing and translation projects.” He is, however, concerned about the future. “There’s a loss of a sense of a national project – the ambitions that define what kind of country we are striving to be. Because this national project is no longer evident, society is open to all sorts of currents prevalent in the region.”
 Is there a need to reassert national identity? “The question is which national identity?” he replies. “Kuwait’s national identity has always been both diverse and tolerant – the tradespeople, the seafarers, the Bedouins, the merchants passing through with music, gold, spices and languages – pluralism, openness and tolerance: this is the identity that needs reasserting. National identity – as you can see from the extreme right in Europe – is a double-edged sword and some in our society want to use their narrow understanding of our religion, traditions and morals to turn us into a closed and intolerant society.” Which brings him back to his specialist subject. “Working with texts like Shakespeare, you have all these questions of identity,” he explains.
Al-Bassam’s long-term aim is to create a national theatre in Kuwait. “I’ve been trying to get this national theatre off the ground for six years and that inertia is frustrating. You can’t make a national theatre alone. There needs to be political will for it to happen.” With his success at home and abroad, the case for developing and supporting the performing arts in Kuwait grows ever stronger.
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