The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will bring an Arabic interpretation of Duncan Macmillan’s international sensation Every Brilliant Thing to UAE audiences on Wednesday and Friday, May 1 and 3, at 7:30pm in The Black Box.
Adapted and directed by acclaimed Egyptian theater director and playwright, and artistic director to go Cairo’s DCAF festival,Ahmed El Attar, Every Brilliant Thing will feature Nanda Mohammad in a play about all the things that make life worth living. Attendees will see the Syrian actress seated alone on an empty stage with only a minimal set, accessories, and music, as they experience an hour of life and humor that explores the theme of mental health. Mohammad will have the challenging task of balancing the storyline with the energies of the audience, who are invited to participate and even improvise during the show. The play will be performed in Arabic with simultaneous English translations, allowing for a unique experience from show to show.
Executive Artistic Director at The Arts Center at NYUAD Bill Bragin commented: “The best way I can describe Ahmed El Attar’s re-imagination in Arabic of Duncan Macmillan’s globally acclaimed theatrical play is by paraphrasing its title: “everything about it is brilliant”. It’s an insightful and inventive meeting point of Western and Arabic theater, paired with a practical acting workshop and inspiring talks by experts. This combination makes it a remarkable and rewarding experience for participants and an important contribution to the development of Arabic language theater in the UAE.”
Associate Director Artistic Planning at NYUAD, Reem Allam, added: “Through witty humour, the play allows us to tackle some of the serious mental health issues of our generation. Mohammad’s powerful interactive performance and El Attar’s brilliant adaptation creates such a memorable moving experience that you will leave with a heart fuller than when you first walked through the door.”
Originally published in the UK in 2013, Every Brilliant Thing, written by Duncan Macmillan, made headlines globally and was translated into Arabic by Ahmed El Attar, as part of a bigger project: Theatre in translation – contemporary European theater in Arabic aiming to translate 24 contemporary plays by European playwrights to Arabic.
Just a few days ahead of the show, on Sunday April 28, El Attar will lead a four-hour long practical acting workshop. His method draws from French theater director and visual artist Jean Michel Bruyère dating back thirty years and is based on improvisation exercises that increase the awareness of the actor’s tools by dissecting and developing them, allowing the actor to use these techniques fully while building a character. Participants will tackle the paradox of the actor, learning how to create a character that is at the same time real but not a cliché, a character that clearly carries their spirit but that is not them, and a character that is identifiable by the audience but is also unique.
Following the workshop, on Tuesday April 30, Ahmed El Attar will join fellow Egyptian theater director and playwright Laila Soliman, currently visiting faculty at NYU Abu Dhabi, to discuss his thirty years of practice in Egypt and across the world, as well as his latest project: contemporary European theater in translation. He will talk about his career as an international theater maker and the importance of his various projects in the development of the performing arts in Egypt and across the Arab world.
On May 1, attendees will also have the opportunity to engage with the artists during a post-show Q&A session moderated by Abhishek Mujamdar, Program Head, Theater; Associate Arts Professor of Theater at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Listings information
Event: Every Brilliant Thing – Ahmed El Attar
Date: Wednesday and Friday, May 1& 3 at 7:30pm
Venue: The Black Box
Tickets: To purchase tickets to the performance, visit here
Event: Workshop: An Introduction to Actor Training with Ahmed El Attar
Date: Sunday, April 28 from 2 to 6pm.
Venue: The Arts Center
Event: Artist Talk: Ahmed El Attar in conversation with Laila Soliman
Date: Tuesday, April 30 at 6.30pm.
Venue: The NYUAD Gallery Reading Room
To keep informed of additional programs, please visit The Arts Center website.
Biographies
Ahmed El Attaris a theater director and playwright. He is the founder and artistic director of the Temple Independent Theatre Company; founder of Orient Productions for Film and Theatre; and founder and general manager of Studio Emad Eddin Foundation that provides rehearsal, residency and training space to performing artists in Cairo. His works, which address socially relevant themes, have been performed to critical acclaim throughout the Arab world and internationally. El Attar earned a BA in Theatre from the American University in Cairo and an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle, and was a Chevening scholar on the Clore Leadership Programme, UK. He was born in 1969 in Cairo, where he continues to live and work.
Nanda Mohammad is a Syrian actress and graduate of the Higher Institute of the Dramatic Arts in Damascus-acting. She has worked with a large number of Syrian theater directors, mainly with Naila Al-Atrash and Omar Abu Saada. Though deeply involved in the Syrian contemporary theater scene as an actress, but also as a theater pedagogue, Nanda Mohammad is regularly casted by regional and international theater directors and has performed in many prestigious international festivals and theaters. She has also worked as a voice and acting coach in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Switzerland, and Italy since 2004.
Besides theater, Nanda Mohammad has also pursued a career in cinema and television. She has been based in Egypt since 2012 and works regularly with the Egyptian director Ahmed El Attar in addition to acting in various international performances. In 2020, she was awarded the French National Order of Merit for Arts and Letters, Knight Degree.
