yfa6i9

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

It is a little known fact that Kuwait was once a hotbed of playwrights, stage performers and masraHiyaat. The tradition continues today, albeit quietly, whereas the golden era of Kuwaiti theatre emerged in the wake of the third Arab-Israeli war and the infamous nafT boom of 1973. Of the plays produced at the time, one was considered tfaTiS by many people across the Arab World: "Bye Bye London" (1981).

Given the country's censorship laws and restrictions on protest in public places, it was through aD-DiHik provoked by wildly satirical performances that a critique of the government or country could be tactfully expressed.

The plot of "Bye Bye London" is as follows: Shareed, a wealthy Kuwaiti businessmen, checks into a fancy London hotel and gets talking to Nahhash, a Saudi camel herder turned global arms dealer. They grumble about their respective wifes ("those thirsty goats") while the hotel manager (and Zionist) Adam plies them with escorts and alcohol to snatch at some of their Riyals and Dinars.

But as time passes, their self-satisfied amusement dissipates.  The Middle Eastern guests know exactly why the women respond to their advances and why the hotel manager is so charming and generous. Glancing at each other uneasily, "the fig leaf of Arab male prowess falls to expose two lonely middle-aged men at a bar." Read Ahmed Dailami's article for more.

And watch an entire performance of "Bye Bye London" here:

مسرحيات	masraHiyaat	Plays
تفطص	tfaTiS	Hilarious (f)
نفط	nafT	Oil
الضحك	aD-DiHik	The laughter