Dubai Culture Forms Committee to Evaluate Theatrical Performances During Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre

Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts, heritage, and literature, formed a committee to review theatrical performances by the groups participating in this year’s Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre edition, which will be held from 6th – 17th October. The committee evaluated these performances and guided the teams to ensure adequacy of content and vision, and at least 70% of a theatrical presentation. 

The committee consisted of three members from the Authority, including Khalil Abdulwahid, Director of Fine Arts Department; Fatima Al Jallaf, Manager of Theatre Section and Head of Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre; and Arwa Al Qassim, Museum Specialist. The committee adopted a set of pre-defined criteria, earning the festival a professional framework based on credibility and integrity. Additionally, the guidance provided by the committee will motivate participants to stay on track, adhere to specific contexts, and raise the level of competition among teams.

The festival committee set 15 criteria for selecting the participating shows, including general homogeneity and coherence of a play’s text, clarity of the presented idea, embodiment of fundamental youth issues, originality and creativity, and the focus on UAE’s traditions, while avoiding political, religious, and other controversial issues.

Fatima Al Jallaf said: “We expect to see a high turnout for this year's festival, and we are eager to provide a positive and competitive environment that inspires everyone to make their best contributions to enhance the youths’ performing arts in the UAE and the region.”

Khalil Abdulwahid commented: “At Dubai Culture, we take pride in organising such prominent events that guide our young talents down a path of professional theatre. This committee, and other committees, will certainly make every effort to encourage our young talents to continue developing their capabilities to establish a strong theatre sector that will nurture the cultural sector in the UAE and the region.”

Arwa Al Qassim, commenting on the nature of the committee's work: “Our mission as a committee will be focused on providing directions and guidelines to the participating teams’ young talents in order to alleviate the level of theatrical performances and motivate individuals to innovate and be creative in various elements of theatre, raising the level of the competition when the performances are presented on stage in front of festival attendees.”

Dubai Culture recommends participating teams to make their ideas easily understandable by the public and committee, and to keep them within proximity of the youth’s atmosphere. Their performances should facilitate the work on the directors and the actors while ensuring quality and harmony of the dialogue among the performers. Teams should also ensure a direct link between the script and the presented visuals, with the participants expected to provide a coherent production using creativity and innovation in directing the theatrical performance. Other than the need to introduce between 30% and 50% new and young talent in a performance, there are other criteria related to lighting, sound effects, makeup, decoration, etc.

Dubai Culture aims to enhance Dubai’s cultural scene and draw attention to the Emirate’s rich heritage with a variety of initiatives that take place throughout the year. The Authority’s mandate is to build bridges of constructive dialogue between different civilisations and cultures through enriching initiatives that benefit Dubai’s citizens, residents, and visitors.