Instead of going to the Screen Actors Guild Awards to collect his award for his work on HOUSE OF CARDS, Kevin Spacey chose to watch an Arabic play called DHOW UNDER THE SUN by Iraqi playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak at the Sharjah Institute for Theatrical Arts.
Hassan’s play is the product of a two-week-long Home Grown theatre workshop as a result of a partnership between the Kevin Spacey Foundation and the Middle EastTheatreAcademy (Meta) in Sharjah. The 34-strong cast and creative team had been hand-picked from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the PalestinianTerritories, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Algeria and Jordan.
Hassan’s play DHOW UNDER THE SUN focuses on the aftermath of an environmental calamity. Families of a fictional country are displaced and forced into a refugee camp where they have to struggle for daily amenities, electricity, and survival. It was inspired by true accounts of young Syrian refugees who had to abandon their homes and education when the civil war began. The play tackles the issue of statelessness, global warming, and corruption, whilst being infused with touches of comedy and lots of spirit.