Mohammed al Mansour, the prominent actor in Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf who played the starring role in the first Kuwaiti film Bas Ya Bahar (Enough Sea) directed by Khaled al Siddiq is considered nowadays as one of the most popular TV and Theater stars.
“The Kuwaiti theater matured in the sixties and seventies until mid eighties when the theatrical movement slipped due to the domination of business outlook on these works. This consumption phenomenon has been the outcome of foreign influences. The Kuwaiti theater is part of the Arabic theater which has been impacted by the seek for quick money. A commercial theater won’t give you the opportunity to think properly as you will busy thinking how to generate the highest possible proceeds by any means. I think there are good resources in Kuwait but the business side dominated and led to dampening the intellectual side. This problem had deleterious effects on the Arabic Theater,” Mansour told the daily al Hayat.
He added, “I do not blame any artist in particular but I partly blame the audience as a whole for encouraging these pure business works. In the sixties and seventies the audience was unique in its taste and discussions. Now nobody tries to argue with the artist like before when the audience used to interact with us, judge us and provide us with ideas and topics.”
Mansour thinks the Kuwaiti Theater may respond to the social and cultural developments in the gulf and whole world. Many important theaters have been closed in England. Also the Balshway Theater in Russia is now begging the audience.” – Albawaba.com
