The full schedule for the inaugural Alex Broun Play Festival at The Junction in Dubai has just been announced. Over four busy days, 43 of Alex’s plays will be presented by over 100 of Dubai’s top writers, directors, and Independent Theatre Companies.
The first ever Alex Broun Play Festival will be held at The Junction in Dubai from November 16th-19th 2016.
Highlights of the Festival include Eric Dury, winner of Best Actor at Short+Sweet Dubai 2016, performing one of Alex’s most intense plays, The Gift, directed by Pawan Manghnani for Aish Outt Productions; Sanjeev Dixit from Third 1/2 Theatre, the winner of Short+Sweet Dubai for the last two years, directing Alex’s new play War/Kiss, set in the Middle East; and Liz Hadaway of Constellation, Festival Director of Short+Sweet Dubai, directing romantic hit I miss you the most when I catch sight of the moon starring Cris Mejia, Blake Stemm and Hisham Khan.
Some of Alex’s most popular plays will also feature in this first ever edition of the festival, in particular The First Fireworks, his second most produced play (produced 177 times in 15 countries), directed by Sidd Jose and starring Jennifer Turkington and Eliane El Tromb; The Kill (59 productions, 10 countries), directed by Jimish Thakkar for The Hive; and the whimsical comedy Cate Blanchett wants to be my friend on Facebook(50 productions, 9 countries), directed by and starring Jasmin Neuschaefer as Cate.
The plays are split into five groups representing different emotions: Crimson, love and passion; Green, intelligence and questioning; Blue, joy and hope; Magenta, edgy and surprising; while family-friendly Orange is youthful and fun. In each of the groups between 6 to 8 plays will be performed, with each show lasting between 70 to 80 minutes. Each of the plays be performed twice during the 4 days.
Other celebrated plays include: “the play read by over 1 million Indians”, Together we are Anna, about the anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare, presented by Orb Theatricals, directed by Humera Sultana and starring Sabiha Majgaonkar and Ajay Simha; recent Gala Finalist from Short+Sweet Auckland; Diary of a Break Up/Break Down, performed by Afaf Shawwa and Arjun Burman and directed by Chandni Varma; and the popular comedy Missing Katerina, directed by Kirin Hilliar and starring Faris Kayello, Ahmed Syed and Hilliar.
The festival will also feature different languages with Hindi and Indian adaptations of Alex’s plays: Bas Ek Pal (The Celine Dion Songbook), performed in Hindi, directed by Purva Grover with Mandy Walia, Abhijit Roy and Joaquim Gonsalves; and Appuntamento Segreto (Hidden Agenda) and In Bagno (Bathroom), presented in Italian by DramaDonne, directed by Michaela Contini with Natascia Colautti, Cristiana Maierna, Jacopo Mangiapane and Andrea Tallarida.
Season Pass for the whole Festival for just AED200 and save 50%.
To book tickets email info@thejunctiondubai.com or call the Junction Box Office on 04 3388 525 or at the door on the night.
Here’s the full line up of all the plays and the wonderful, directors, actors and theatre companies who will be bringing them to life on stage during the Festival. (PLEASE NOTE: Plays are not listed in running order.)
7pm Wednesday November 16th and Thursday November 17th
(PLEASE NOTE: Plays are not listed in running order.)
Director: Kirin Hilliar
Cast: Angelo: Ashley Griffiths (Angelo), Justin Cipriano (Lachlan)
Directed and performed by Lisa Harter, Aida Laubach and Iobel Andemicael
Director: Phil Apaza
Cast: Jad Rouphael (Bob), Phil Apaza (Steve)
Performed by Lamya Tawfik
Cast: Greg Lunn (Paul), Sarah Potter (Tracey)
Director: Sidd Jose
Performed by Sherry Zakaria
Presented by Pre-Valentines
Director: Preethi Vijayakumar
Cast: Mara Carpencu Pop (Kym), Prithvi Nikhil Lopez (Dave), Preethi Vijayakumar (Jennifer),
Farah Ben Temessek (Ava), Ajitesh Tripathi (Voice)
9pm Wednesday November 16th and Thursday November 17th
(PLEASE NOTE: Plays are not listed in running order.)
Director: Jasmin Neuschaefer
Cast: Justin Joseph (Barry), Bunty Monani (Morris), Anna Alexandra (Sarah), Jasmin Neuschaefer (Cate Blanchett)
Director: Lamya Tawfik
Cast: Defne Gürsoy (Celine), Zille Rehman (Shah)
Presented by Orb Theatricals
Director: Sabiha Majgaonkar
Cast: Ian Halstead and Humera Sultana
Death in the Salsa Class
Director: Geetha Prodhom
Assistant Director: Nikhil Mittal
Cast: Gabriela Zuniga (Jennifer), Carine Bouery (Robbie), Monica Chatterjee (Natalie), Rachel Ann Millar (Sue), Jane Shadrina (Mary) and Anna Zhmurko (Sasha)
I miss you the most when I catch sight of the moon
Presented by Constellation
Director: Liz Hadaway
Cast: Cris Mejia (Eveline), Hisham Khan (Adam), Blake Stemm (Vladislav)
Jade
Director: Phil Apaza
Cast: Phil Apaza (Craig), Greg Lunn (Bryan)
Love Sucks
Director: Geetha Prodhom
Cast: Geetha Prodhom (Karla), Marco Funk (Steve)
While you were sleeping
Presented by Canadian University
Director: Georges Yazigi
Cast: Pearl Lobo (Kym), Dante Kanaan (Dave), Ifra Sadaq (Jennifer), Isra Elagib (Ava)
CRIMSON
7pm, Friday November 18 & Saturday November 19
(PLEASE NOTE: Plays are not listed in running order.)
27 Flavours of her kiss
Director: Defne Gursoy
Cast: Carine Bouery (Xander), Rami Bayram (Kisser 1), Esraa Aboushahin (Kisser 2)
Bas Ek Pal (Hindi)
An adaptation of The Celine Dion Songbook
Director: Purva Grover
Cast: Mandy Walia, Abhijit Roy, Joaquim Gonsalves
Diary of a Break Up/Break Down
Director: Chandni Varma
Cast: Afaf Shawwa, Arjun Burman
Donut
Director: Hazel Lucas
Cast: Hazel Lucas (Monica), Maurice Cassan (Mark)
Missing Katerina
Director: Kirin Hilliar
Cast: Faris Kayello (Mo), Ahmed Syed (Ace), Kirin Hilliar (Crystal)
Ridiculously, madly
Presented by Drama Galleries
Director: Syed Imad
Cast -Sikendar Hemani, Vaishali Balgu, Abraham.V
Spading
Presented by Orb Theatricals
Director: Sabiha Majgaonkar
Cast: Hiba Khan, Kailash Nair
The First Fireworks
Director: Sidd Jose
Cast: Jennifer Turkington (Helen), Eliane El Tromb (Dawn)
The Gift
Presented by Aish Outt Productions
Director: Pawan Manghnani
Cast: Eric Dury (William), Punit Lalwani (Ben)
The readiness is all
Performed by Richard Laurence
You
Director: Hani Oueidat
Cast: Kelly Kinsella (Deborah), Mouna Bensiradj (Alice), Siddharth Gollapudi (Strang),
Subash Babu (Dominic), Hani Oueidat (Walter)
BLUE
9pm, Friday November 18 & Saturday November 19
(PLEASE NOTE: Plays are not listed in running order.)
Appuntamento Segreto (Italian)
Adapted from Hidden Agenda
Presented by DramaDonne
Director: Michaela Contini
Cast: Natascia Colautti, Cristiana Maierna, Jacopo Mangiapane, Andrea Tallarida
Set designer: Massima Barone
Costumes/Hair style: Alessandra Mareno
Ash
Aish Outt Productions
Director: Gargi Basu
Cast: Gargi Basu (Ashleigh), Humera Sultana (Jessika)
In Bagno (Italian)
Adapated from Bathroom
Presented by DramaDonne
Director: Michaela Contini
Cast: Natascia Colautti, Cristiana Maierna, Jacopo Mangiapane, Andrea Tallarida
Set designer: Massima Barone
Costumes/Hair style: Alessandra Mareno
Pushed
Presented by Drama Galleries
Director: Sikendar Hemani
Assistant Director: Vaishali Balgu
Cast: Benjamin Samuel, Nisha Bajaria, Siddhant Singhla, Syed Imad, Abraham. V
Saturday Night Newtown Sunday Morning Enmore
Director: Hazel Lucas & Chris McDermott
Cast: Chris McDermott (Matthew), Hazel Lucas (Claire)
The Actress Dilemma
Presented by Aish Outt Productions
Director: Aaqeel Shariff
Cast: Jennifer Mauerhofer (The Actress), Pawan Manghnani (The Director)
The Kill
Presented by The Hive
Director: Jimish Thakkar
Cast: Sandeep George (Simon), Fawad Khan (Wayne)
Together we are Anna
Presented by Orb Theatricals
Director: Humera Sultana
Cast: Sabiha Majgaonkar (Uma), Ajay Simha (Navin)
Turn the other Cheek
Presented by Aish Outt Productions
Director: Jannat Manghnani
Cast: Hitesh Sukhnani (Samson & Albert), Rohit Menon (Samson & Albert)
War/Kiss
Presented by Third ½ Theatre
Director: Sanjeev Dixit
ORANGE
2pm & 4pm, Saturday October
(PLEASE NOTE: Plays are not listed in running order.)
Bathroom
Director: Rita Martinos
Cast: Mahmoud Basyoni (Nick), Rachel Miller (Simone)
Fate’s Steady Hands
Director: Jasmin Neuschaefer
Cast: Mohamed Seif (Sam), Elie Choufani (Richard)
Flight
Performed by Fiona Paterson
Gun Laws
Director: Geetha Prodhom
Cast: Rosey Nader, Maria Gregoric
Hidden Agenda
Director: Rita Martinos
Cast: Mahmoud Basyoni (Nick), Rachel Miller (Simone)
Twenty dollars
Performed by Jordan Watton (Sophie), Emma Boyle (Mandy), Chloe Boyle (Caroline), Isabella Thomas (Kyra), Tia Borley (Tracey)
Keep blowing the Trumpet! This & many more stories await in the pages! Have you read our latest, the Fan special!
