Conjuring Kuwait Onstage: An Interview with Mohammed Al-Hemely

ABSTRACT

The play, set in unnamed slums of Kuwait, centers on Om Sror (mother of Sror), a leader of a hidden community that authorities have at best forgotten and at worst demonized (fig. 1). Closure of theatres around the world due to COVID-19 did not abet Al-Hemely’s drive, as he produced one of the first Zoom plays in the Arabic region. First step, everybody comes here. Because you can’t come inside my [points to head], I see too many things, I visit too many stages, I go backstage in many theatres, in Kuwait and outside.