DR HASSAN RASHEED: A PIONEER ON QATARI CULTURAL SCENE

RAMY SALAMA

DOHA DR Hassan Rasheed is a well known and respected name for observers of the Qatari cultural scene.

Having been the first radio announcer to pronounce the words “This is the Qatar Broadcasting Service” (in Arabic, of course) and a theatre critic and playwright of note, he gained renown for his daily radio programme featuring discussions on important writers as well as other cultural subjects.

He has, to his credit, a long list of works, including a great deal of theatre criticism as well as plays and two short story collections among others. He has also worked as a producer at QBS, at one time working as the head of programming.

But that is not all. He has also been associated with Qatar’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage for decades, both as an administrator and as a participant in activities organised by the Ministry.

Recently, he was feted by the Ministry as well as the Arab Theatre Institute at the fifth edition of the annual Arab Theatre Festival, held in Doha in January, receiving sort of a lifetime achievement award.

In an interview with Qatar Tribune he spoke about his life, work and the current state of Qatari Theatre.

Recounting his early days as a writer and broadcaster, he said, “I started out working as a presenter for QBS. I was the first Qatari to take on the mantle of a radio anchor, and one of the first journalists focusing on cultural features measured on the local and regional scales. My work was featured in the first issue of Al Doha cultural magazine, back at the time when the editor-in-chief was Jordanian academic, poet and critic Fayez al Sayegh, and I continued to be published therein for several years. My write-ups also featured in another Qatari publication, Al Orouba magazine, which published several of my short stories and interviews with artists from Qatar, the Gulf area, and the Arab region. From there, I developed an interest in theatre, eventually going to Egypt to study.

After several years of study in one of the capitals of Arabic culture, Hassan returned to Qatar, and began the next phase of his life, which was in the theatre. He said, “when I returned to the country, I tried, along with several other young Qatari actors and authors, including author and scholar Dr Marzouq Bashir bin Marzouq, actor, playwright and director Ghanem al Sulaiti, and quite a few others to set up the framework for new cultural directions, in which theatre would play a larger role in our society. In this, we also collaborated with our brothers in Kuwait.

“Culture, needless to say, covers a wide field of activities, so at that time I also resumed my work at QBS, eventually becoming a programming consultant. I was also appointed in an administrative position at the Ministry of Culture, and my writing continued to appear in the local media. I also published two collections of short stories, studies in the theatre of Qatar and the Gulf, which addressed such topics as social issues in Qatari theatre, and the development of theatre criticism in the GCC region. I have also written a number of stage plays which were collected in two volumes.” Hassan’s interest in, and involvement with Qatar’s culture continues to the present day. “I have been involved with a number of activities organised by the Ministry of Culture, and while I am no longer formally employed by the Ministry, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al Kuwari honours me by inviting me to participate in activities organised by the Ministry, and with the support of Secretary-General of the Ministry HE Mubarak bin Nasser al Khalifa. I have organised several activities, related to theatre, as well as music, such as the Arab Music Festival, held last April, where I headed the organising committee, and as a citizen of this beautiful country, I am prepared to serve my country in whatever manner I can.” Discussing the relationship between contemporary Qatari theatre and heritage, he said “the great playwright Abdulrahman al Mannai continuously presents works in each theatre season which seek to portray heritage through the medium of theatre, as well as addressing such important questions as the heritage of theatre in the region, and the role of the theatre in preserving and transferring the cultural memory.

He does this through portraying Ahazeej, or folk songs and performances, as well as in terms of the very subject matter of his plays, by addressing topics which might occupy a person from this region, as he did in his play Al Mohra, which refers to an important incident which took place in the Gulf region in 1925 called Sanatoul Tabaa or The Year of Drowning, when over 10,000 people died following a great flood, which took place just before the end of the diving season.

“Another important Qatari playwright is Nasser Abdul Reda, who is also an actor and director besides being the founder of youth theatre in Qatar, and a previous director of the Qatar National Theatre, and who, in several of his works has sought to present aspects of the heritage of Qatar and the region as a sort of aesthetic performance, in a memorable, iconic way which then serves to highlight our heritage through theatre.” Dr Rasheed uses these two Qatari playwrights as examples of the continued import of Qatari theatre. He says, “One cannot speak of Qatari theatre without mentioning the roles of these artistes, or that of Ghanem al Sulaiti, for that matter. They are all exemplars of those who believe in the role and import of theatre.

Then, there is the new generation, such as writer and director Ahmed al Muftah, Faisal Hassan Rasheed, and others, in whom I, and other critics of the theatre, have placed our hopes.” This is not to say that theatre in Qatar is without its challenges.

“Schools in Qatar generally do not have theatre programmes, and by and large, this is also true of a university, so one can’t but be concerned about new talent in the field. In addition to this, there continues to be a lack of a central body to organise workshops, courses and other activities critical to nurturing a thriving theatre scene in the country.

“There is an urgent need for these programmes, as well as to have those who are capable of organising and teaching them. It is my genuine wish that the authorities concerned with this matter should address these issues, in order for the Qatari theatre to be pertinent at the national, regional, and even an international level.”