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One of Bahrain’s oldest theatre clubs is gearing up for a special showcase, featuring top monologues, duologues and group scenes, set to be staged by the end of next month.
Sixteen members of the Manama Theatre Club (MTC) will be showing off their dramatic, comedic and acting chops at the ‘Voices of Bahrain’ showcase, taking place on November 28 at the British Club’s Queen Elizabeth II Hall.
“We have been running weekly acting courses, as part of a 10-week workshop, since September, and we have covered a range of topics including stage presence, voice and breath control, tempo, rhythm, subtext, physical theatre, scriptwork and more,” said workshop leader Liz Hadaway, whose Dubai-based production company Bark at a Crow has been helping facilitate the workshop.
“And the culmination of these workshops will be the showcase, during which all 16 participants will be taking the stage.”
MTC, a section of the British Club, is putting on the performances with minimal set design and a focus on the work that participants have put into their pieces.
MTC chairperson and showcase producer Hannah Turner noted that lights would be a basic stage wash and the showcase would be open to friends and family of the MTC.
“British Club non-members will be paying the club’s BD1.500 door fee, and the performances themselves would have no tickets or reservations required,” she added.
Among the monologues that will be performed is My Name Is Rachel Corrie, written by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, based on the diaries of the American pro-Palestinian activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli armoured bulldozer in 2003, in the city of Rafah.
The solo, documentary-style stage piece assembles her diaries and emails into a personal account of her activism in Gaza and the events that led to her death.
Amongst the duologues will be The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband by Debbie Isitt, a dark comedy in which a jilted wife exacts an ironically domestic revenge on her philandering ex-husband by inviting him to a meal with unforeseen consequences.
The three-person group scenes will include Song for a Sanctuary by Rukhsana Ahmad.
Set in a South London women’s refuge, the play follows an abused South Asian woman as she seeks safety and navigates the cultural and institutional complexities of refuge life.
“We encouraged everyone to step outside of their comfort zones – for some of the comedic actors, this meant exploring dramatic territory, while some explored absurdism and more,” Liz added.
Also being staged is Raised in Captivity by Nicky Silver.
The dark comedy portrays estranged siblings and a cast of bizarre characters whose grief, guilt and neuroses collide in absurd and unsettling ways after their mother’s death.
The other performances being showcased as part of the event will include Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, Thom Pain by Will Eno, Revolutionary Road by Justin Haythe, based on the novel by Richard Yates, Oresteia by Richard Icke, Archipelago by Caridad Svitch and Tape by Stephen Belber.
Liz is an immersive events and theatre director who has worked for major performing arts organisations such as the NSDF UK, The National Theatre Connections UK and The Singapore Arts Festival, and runs directing and acting workshops in the UK, Portugal, Peru, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE.
For more details, follow @mtcbahrain on Instagram.
