A group of Jordanian actors have found that the threat of war has interrupted their plans to bring their satirical drama to London. Michael Jansen reports from Amman
Imminent war is impinging on every facet of life here in Jordan, even theatre.
War has forced Jordan's most famous comic actor, Nabil Sawalha, to postpone travel to London where he is set to appear on March 28th in the revue Oh Peace at the National Theatre in London. Sawalha and his character actor brother, Nadim (A Touch of Class, Half Moon Street and Return of the Pink Panther) were to take part, along with Dame Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, in a series of anti-war sketches mounted by Corin Redgrave.
"I feel I must stay here with my family at this time and my brother agrees. I've already sent him the script and he'll get someone else to take my part," Sawalha stated.
The sketch is about Iraq in 2020. A wicked gleam in his eye, Sawalha quipped, "General Tommy Franks grows a moustache and looks just like Saddam, Hussein." His brother's one-man show, All I Want is a Passport, about Harrod's owner, Muhammad al-Fayed, "is sold out in the West End."
Julia, Nadim's daughter, is an established actress, while Lara, Nabil's daughter is preparing to go to Britain to study acting, making the Sawalhas, by origin Christian Bedouin, the first Anglo-Arab family of thespians.
Nabil Sawalha is now considering whether or not to carry on with his own satiric revue Halwasat (Hallucinations) which has been running since last December. War has cut attendance. Only 50 people were in the audience last Friday when I went. "The usual run is 16 months playing to full houses," he said. But people are saving their cash by spending only on essentials.
Halwasat makes fun of inability of the Arabs and the rest of the world to cope with the US now that it is the world's hyperpower. "America has sidelined and neutralised not only our leaders but all leaders in the world," Sawalha stated.
Trained as a mechanical engineer in Britain, Sawalha returned to Jordan and financed his first theatrical effort by working in his family's hairdressing salon. Ironically, his bald pate is now a trademark. Political theatre is particularly important in this part of the world. "I always wanted to write about politics because politics plays havoc with everything in our region.
"As Arabs, the only culture we are cultured in is politics," he asserted. "Satirical theatre has a key role. The king, the establishment and the intelligence \ realise how important it is to have that release."
During one performance, when the intelligence head was in the audience, Sawalha asked him: "Should we go with you after the show?" He replied, "You help people to speak who want to speak. We'll take care of those who want to put bombs."
Satiric theatre took off in Jordan with the 1989-91 democratisation campaign and the 1991 Gulf War gave freedom of speech a boost. Because Jordan was boycotted for refusing to join the US-led coalition, satirists had greater freedom to practise their art.
"Neither we nor our government cared about what we said about our leaders and those of other countries. The revue inspired by that war pointed out that those imposing a new world order "come from somewhere else to practise on us."