Doha Players to stage 37 Shakespeare plays on February 28 and March 1

AILYN AGONIA

DOHA THE Doha Players will stage London West End’s longest running comedy ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)’ at the Qatar National Theatre on February 28 and March 1 The show will start at 7:30pm.

The unique show is being staged for the first time in the country as part of the Qatar- UK 2013 Year of Culture events.

Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, the play will feature three actors portraying all the 1,222 characters in Shakespeare’s 37 plays during the 97-minute production.

Assistant Professor of English and American Literature at Qatar University Dr Kim C Sturgess will codirect the Doha rendition of the comedy with communications professional Farris Bukhari.

This will be Farris’ first collaboration with the 59-year-old Doha theatre group.

“Shakespeare in the sixteenth century was exciting with a single sex company of players acting both gender roles, doubling up on characters and offering multi-cultural drama. Our complete works will contain all the same elements,” Sturgess said.

“As a long-time proponent of community theatre, I believe it is important to include as broad a swathe of Qatar’s various communities in the arts as possible. This play encourages just that, making Shakespeare fun to people from all walks of life. There is no point performing a play that is so interactive in its nature, if local customs and popular culture are not included or at least taken into account in the creation of the piece,” Farris said.

Doha Players’ seasoned actors- Samantha McGill, Rowan Denny and Ousama Itani- will lead the production in taking the audience into the world of Shakespeare.

Samantha, from London, appeared in repertory Theatre in Exeter in the original cast of Sherlock Holmes, the musical written by Leslie Bricusse and starring Ron Moody, among others. As a member of Doha Players, she starred in last year’s production Wizard of Oz. When not on stage, Samantha teaches musical theatre and performance to children.

Denny, a Canadian, had played a number of Shakespearian roles prior to moving to Doha, which includes Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing, the Princess in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Ophelia in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. With Doha Players, she played Gwendolyn in the production The Importance of Being Ernest.

Completing the trio is Lebanese-American actor Ousama. He started his musical theatre career at the age of seven. Currently, he works in Al Jazeera’s New Media department. This is his debut performance with the Doha Players.

The show is being supported by ConocoPhillips, GAC, Doha Mums and The One, and being staged with the permission of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage. Tickets are available at The One Villaggio and Landmark branches at QR75.