Drama:: It is so if you say so!

Hey friends,

Last night, a bunch of us went to see a drama performed by the students of American University of Dubai. It was held at the Mall of the Emirates auditorium, and it was my first time in there. Quite impressive I must say. In fact, it's the first time I was going to a theatre inside a mall. The play's called It Is So If You Say So, which is adapted from Luigi Pirandello's "Right You Are If You Think You Are."

A lot of us were confused in the beginning as to what was happening in the play. It was only after the drama when we picked up the booklet and read through it that we understood what it was all about. This is play is one of those play where there are abstract meanings and profound statements. Not everything was meant to be literal, but each character and scene was supposed to represent something larger than life.

The basic synopsis focuses on a family (mother in law, son in law and wife), who arrive in a new town searching for success, but their mysterious ways intrigue the townspeople. The son in law keeps the wife and mother in law separate from each other, and so the only way they communicate is through letters. The rest of the drama follows on the relationship between the son in law with the mother in law, and the son in law with his wife. There is a lot of ambiguity and mysteriousness, but everything is revealed towards the end, where there is a massive twist.

My understanding of the drama.

The author of the original drama loved writing about "identity issues," because his own life was filled with people with identity crisis, including his own wife who "suffered mental breakdown." This encouraged the author to epxlore the issues regarding the "problems of identity, the ambiguity of truth and reality" and thereby focused on the idea of "who am I?" and "what is real?"

So, the drama last night aimed to bring that idea of identitiy crisis to the Middle East, and in particular to Dubai, where we have a vast melting pot of different nationalities. Like the booklet says, "Dubai, while a true melting pot, seems to have a lot of indirect segregation going on between the communities that dwell in it. Only through openness and fosusing on what brings us all together can the social fabric of this city develop into a real community."

Point being: everyone who comes into the city of Dubai is forced to seek out an identity amidst the hustle and bustle, and people around you have general stereotypes about who you should be and what you should be. I find that happen to me a lot. Many people are surprised when I tell them I am from Pakistan, because they have a certain conception of what a Pakistani should look like. It is in the midst of a vibrant city like Dubai where we are forced to carve out an identity for ourselves, otherwise we would be just another face in the crowd.

Also, one of the central concept of the author works is "naked masks" which refers to the "social roles," and on the stage, "the dialectic relationship between the actor and the character portrayed."

All righty, I am outta here. I hope to get to see more interesting dramas like this one. The acting was superb, the music and lighting was effective, and knowing this drama was performed by students, it was a job well done.

Mansur