The Al Raheel | Departure performance directed by Reem Almenhali, a New York University Abu Dhabi alum and Joanna Settle, award winning director and Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs and Social Impact and Arts Professor of Theater, showcases Emirati women through different phases of life. This performance started as a seven minute original piece when Almenhali was a student in Professor Settle’s directing class and became a full fledged performance when Settle expressed interest in wanting to expand it and collaborate. This contemporary production premiered in 2020 and made a comeback at the Arts Center this year.

The performance is set on a sandy stage, illustrating the nature of the UAE, with a backdrop of pictures and videos taken by Fatema Al Fardan fitting the scene. To the side of the stage, various colorful plastic chairs and tables are placed, the colors of some faded by the beating sun. As an Emirati, those chairs and tables looked familiar to me as they were used by our grandparents in their homes during earlier times, but I wonder if explaining their relevance to the performance would have made their presence more impactful.

“Through the performance, I think we were trying to portray the life of women at first but also Emirati women within a larger scope of departing through different stages of life; departing from childhood to youth and going through adulthood,” expressed Maryam Alshehi, Class of 2023 and cast member of Al Raheel, when asked about what message the performance carries.

Image courtesy of Al Raheel Production Team

Throughout the performance, the cast transitions between poetry and prose in Arabic and English. Personally, the prose in Arabic held a deeper meaning than those in English as Arabic is very rich in expressions that do not exist in English. Although the performance did a great job of translating and conveying the same message in English, being able to understand both languages highlighted the poetic quality and richness of Arabic.

“I would say, we try to portray a different experience to each and every audience member. Audiences that understand Arabic would have a different experience. Audiences that are bilingual would have a different experience and the same applies to English,” said Alshehi when asked about her thoughts on the use of two languages.

The first scene in the performance depicts the life of an Emirati girl, experiencing her mother’s tender love and growing out of her childhood toys. This scene captures the emotions and innocence of childhood while smoothly portraying a transition to the teenage years. This scene seemed to have a lot of resonance in the audience, as it highlighted a universal experience of childhood, although it was rooted in Emirati customs and norms.

A particular scene that remains etched into my memory was when the cast sat around a desert campfire, chatting and laughing. This scene beautifully captured the special bond of friendship created by shared lived experiences and it looked so natural that I couldn't help but wonder whether it was improvised or not.

I later found out that it was actually an improvised scene. “We talked about different things that we were interested in and then we were listening to how the audience reacts. It was amazing every time we heard the audience laugh,” shared Almenhali when asked about their process of choosing things to talk about during the campfire scene.

The cast touched upon different topics like bargaining, off road driving and their ways of replying to people who want them to get married. As an Emirati woman, I felt that the topics they spoke about are relevant to the time we live in and the kind of lives we lead.

Image courtesy of Al Raheel Production Team

“We always wanted to make sure that what we talk about is relevant to the audience, even though it's personal to us but we made the audience part of it,” reflected Almenhali.

When asked what message she wanted the audience to take back, Alshehi shared, “We wanted to portray how Emirati women act naturally and exist on stage and I think we did a really good job on the improv.”

Towards the end of the show, a video of men celebrating and dancing in a wedding were shown, depicting the simple life they had back then and the contrast between older weddings and modern weddings. The video gave me a sense of nostalgia for the simpler times even though I was not born then. The men celebrating the wedding looked very happy and present in the moment and the joy it brought me made me wonder where the director got this special video from.

At the end of the performance, the cast had a Q&A panel and Almenhali spoke a bit about how some scenes changed from the original script she wrote back in 2020. She mentions how she grew and how the script grew with her; she made changes that she felt necessary but kept the original essence of it. This touches on the topic of growth over time and so, in the same breath, she mentioned that her confidence in her writing skills grew as she used to feel like she could only write some parts of the play in Arabic. However, now she feels confident enough to express the same meaning in both English and Arabic.

Image courtesy of Al Raheel Production Team

As far as novelty and uniqueness go, I have never seen a performance like Al Raheel before, especially one performed by an all Emirati cast. I liked how it touched upon societal expectations of Emirati women without showing it in a bad light. For instance, the cast linked the expectations of marriage to how the older generation’s views impact it. They didn’t just mention the expectation without explaining the “why?” behind it.

Many audience members thought the play was bold because it portrayed gender roles and showcased societal expectations in a different light within the Emirati society.

“Each one of us is daring in her own way. Each one of us has her own voice and I wanted that to come to the piece. I wanted the piece to be as daring as each one of us is,” shared Almenhali.

Fatema Al Fardan, the photographer behind all the magical multimedia on display, mentioned that a lot of the pictures and videos were taken from her family archives, including the wedding video. She talked about how it was meant to be that they be used for this performance and consequently be given a bigger meaning. As part of the audience, it felt like the multimedia brought out what was unsaid in the performance; it gave us a sense of the past while weaving it seamlessly into the present through the performance.

“I am hoping that the piece shows more this year or next year. And that I am really hoping that we tour, because that is what a lot of audience members wanted.” Reem comments when asked about how she thinks the performance will look like in a few years. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this performance … Only time will tell.”