The play "The Night of Chekhov's Murder", presented by "Art Box Groob" on the fourth day of the Dubai Youth Theatre Festival, which is held under the umbrella of the Dubai Youth Performing Arts Festival, immerses the audience in a stormy and rainy atmosphere with its minimalist scenography: two desks and a sofa center stage, complemented by sound and light effects. The actors enter the room, and the play begins at a slow pace, hiding a true sense of wonder in its text and performance, which surpassed all other elements of the production.
The first scene presents a confusing emotion through the character of the vain actor, Vasily, who lives on the memory of past glories, and the old coach, Nikita, who teaches him his lines and looks after him, chasing him with illusions. Until we discover the actor's Alzheimer's disease, leaving his memory unable to repeat even a single line in a theatrical role. This scene, presented with strong and tight psychological realism, makes the feel they are on the threshold of a heavy human drama, but the sudden transition completely overturns the structure of the theatrical work. When we realize that this scene was just a rehearsal between two writers working for a production company, struggling to write a play they cannot complete. The first scene transforms from a theatrical reality into a writing attempt, and we enter a play within a play, a text that tries to write itself on the stage.
Seif, the owner of the production company, played by Jasim Balushi, enters the office, turning the work atmosphere into a comedy. This character is looking for what the market wants, demanding the writers to produce a single text according to "trending" standards. He is looking for a text that will simply go viral. A highly intelligent and unsophisticated comedy begins with the producer's entrance. This comedy arises from the conflict between a writer looking for a living, played by Mohammed Kaid, and the writer Hamada, looking for a living text, played by Madhat Mustafa, working for a producer seeking a return. It is a conflict between the measured language of theatre and the fast pace of the modern era.
The actors tackle a deep problem we experience with a light touch, avoiding a heavy-handed approach. The dialogue is realistic and satirical, oscillating between the serious and the humorous. The writers replay the first scene, switch roles, hesitate, their voices rise, they shout. All of this to the rhythm of the producer's drum, who sees the text only as a commodity. The actors' performance succeeded in surpassing the text and direction; their performance imposed itself in its mimicry of the reality of art and its crises, not in imagination and writing, but in the constraints that are imposed and define taste.
The climax of the play comes in the final scene, written by Madhat Mustafa, where the entire production concentrates in a confrontation between the two writers, with the producer in the middle holding a drum and playing it. A confrontation that looks as if theatre is facing itself. One of the writers succumbs to the rhythm of the age, singing "festival" songs and the shouts of crowded streets, while the other resists this wave through a high-flown theatrical line, a line reminiscent of Chekhov's last breaths. Meanwhile, the drum embodies all the social and cultural chaos we live in. The play, in a comedic form, embodies the conflict dominating the language of our time between art and shallow entertainment in a reality that is constantly reshaping itself, leaving an open ending with many questions. Who was actually killed in "The Night of Chekhov's Murder"? Was Chekhov killed as a symbol? Or theatre itself when it became consumerist? Or is it our memory, which completely loses its compass, like that of an Alzheimer's patient?
The play's director and actor, Mohammed Kaid, told "Al Ittihad": "We tried through this play to shed light on writing and the weakness it suffers in the market, and we deliberately presented the viewpoint of seekers of true art and what achieves rapid spread. We deliberately presented this message in a comedic form." He added: "Comedy is a difficult genre, but I love this style, especially because people come to the theatre to laugh and enjoy themselves. Pleasure doesn't always come from tragedy, and the element of pleasure is what maintains the importance and value of theatre." He also noted that the production company has presented many comedic works that often carry a message, emphasizing that theatre suffers from a lack of good scripts, and praised comedy that does not descend into vulgarity and can be watched by all family members.
Actor Jasim Balushi noted that this was his first participation in the Dubai Youth Theatre Festival, saying: "The experience was very enjoyable, and it was an opportunity for me to get closer to the audience. I found in the festival an opportunity to develop and explore my skills." He also pointed out that preparing for the play took about a month and was a period full of pleasure, because the show is close to people and their daily lives.
A creative atmosphere The Dubai Youth Performing Arts Festival features many young talents in music and singing. The day before yesterday, 16-year-old Frances Carrsins presented a singing segment in English.
She spoke about her participation, saying: "I have been singing since childhood, but I started receiving professional musical training for singing about two years ago. This is my first time participating in this festival, and I found it a great opportunity to present my talent to the audience. The atmosphere here is distinctive, filled with positivity and creativity in various fields, whether in playing an instrument or singing".
