FujairahNews:

The after show discussion of the Polish/ Australian show “Desdemona” which is adapted from Shakespeare’s play “Othello”, performed by Jolanta Juszkiewicz, and directed by Anatoly Frusin and Jolanta Juszkiewicz, was full of the audience’s praise and impressed comments about the show. The discussion was run by Mr. Ali Mahdi who spoke of the show’s beauty and the perfection of the performance. He also praised the good directing of the show which made the audience interact with the character and sympathize with it. The show was staged on the Monodrama House Theatre in Dibba Al Fujairah.

Artist Akif Najm started the discussion by commending the show and the performance of the actress, and so did journalist Hussam Abdul Hadi who praised the actress’s passionate portrayal of the character. He wondered why the actress didn’t use the theatrical space and limited herself to a small area of the stage. He also wondered why the director chose to present the show in the old Shakespearian language.

The discussion director followed a new method of running the discussion. He asked the director and performer to answer the questions immediately after they were asked. The director answered Abdul Hadi’s questions by saying that she used the original text of the play which was why the language was old. She didn’t change a thing from the original text because it’s a beautiful a poetic language and contains a lot of the dramatic elements.

Dr. Abdul Aziz Haddad mentioned that he liked the show a lot and pointed out that the target audience for such a show is artists and not ordinary people. The show, as he said, requires reading Shakespeare’s plays to understand the plot and background information of the character. However, even if the audience didn’t understand the show, they certainly did enjoy the beautiful performance of the actress. He thanked the festival’s management for bringing such exceptional shows.

The director answered the comment saying that she chose English for tonight’s show to be understood by everyone, and that almost everyone has read Shakespeare and knows the story of most of his plays.

Mr. Jeryes Samawi praised the effort put in adapting the play from “Othello” and writing this beautiful scenario for “Desdemona”. The character, its internal struggle and self collapse were written and portrayed with perfection. It highlighted a secondary character and presented in detail all the elements of its inner self.

Egyptian writer Rasha Abdul Monem praised the strong presence of the actress which embodied the struggle of the female. She also praised the use of shapes that expressed the weakness of Desdemona’s character in front of Othello. Just as it was in the original play.

Al Monji bin Ibrahim said in a direct and honest criticism of the show: “The opening scene of the show was redundant and didn’t serve any purpose”. However, he praised the unity of the show’s style and the flow of the character’s performance. He said the show successfully won the audience’s hearts and was able to pull them to it and engage them with the character.