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Qatari Critic Hassan Rashid Chairs Jury as Jordan Theatre Festival Opens in Amman
Qatari theatre critic Dr Hassan Rashid is chairing the jury of the 31 st Jordan Theatre Festival, which opened in Amman on 6 November. The appointment places Qatar within the artistic evaluation of a regional programme bringing together 14 Arab countries, ten productions and discussions about theatre’s audience, technology and financial future.
Qatar’s role is in artistic evaluation
Qatar News Agency identifies Rashid as chair of a jury including Abdullah Al Turkmani from Kuwait, Essam Abu Al Qasim from Sudan, Sofiane Attia from Algeria and Dr Said Al Siyabi from Oman. Jordan’s Petra agency confirms the same panel in its account of the opening. The festival runs until 14 November, with prizes to be announced at its conclusion. This establishes a specific form of Qatari participation: a critic taking responsibility within the evaluation of work presented by a wider Arab theatrical field. It should not be confused with a claim that a Qatari production is among the competing performances.
The distinction matters because cultural participation includes more than performing on a stage. A jury is part of the framework through which an event recognises and discusses artistic work. Its members bring different professional and national perspectives to a shared task. The published accounts identify the people, but do not disclose their deliberations or a detailed scoring rubric. Readers can therefore follow the eventual awards and explanations while keeping the process open. Chairing the panel is a confirmed responsibility at the start of the festival, not an advance indication of who will be recognised at the end.
A regional programme began with a Jordanian production
Petra reports that the opening took place at the Royal Cultural Centre in Amman and that the first performance was the Jordanian production Fi Intithar Al Khalas, directed by Dr Yahya Al Bishtawi. The remaining programme uses the centre’s main and circular theatres. This gives the event a defined physical setting rather than a purely ceremonial identity. Different performance spaces can shape the relationship between stage and audience, but the reports do not provide enough production detail to describe the artistic effect of each venue. That judgement belongs to the work as actually performed and the response it receives.
The festival’s announced breadth also distinguishes national participation from the number of productions. Fourteen countries are represented in the wider event, while the performance programme contains ten works. Those are different counts and should remain separate in coverage. A country can be present through a critic, artist or professional exchange as well as a production. Rashid’s jury role is a clear example of that wider structure. It shows how a regional festival can assemble an artistic network larger than the list of shows appearing on its stages, without requiring every delegation to occupy an identical role.
The discussion programme addresses the conditions of theatre
Alongside performances, the published programme includes discussions about audiences, technology, cultural exchange and financial sustainability. Petra also lists a digital-transformation workshop at the University of Jordan on 10 November. These elements make the festival a professional meeting as well as a sequence of productions. They connect the artistic work with the conditions under which theatre reaches people and continues operating. The programme identifies subjects for examination; it does not establish that the festival has already solved audience retention, financing or the use of digital tools. Those questions remain practical challenges for the participants to discuss.
The relationship between technology and attendance is especially useful to consider without assuming that one automatically fixes the other. A digital channel can help people discover a performance, while the decision to attend may still depend on scheduling, price, access and interest in the work. Similarly, cultural exchange becomes more substantial when practitioners can explain and question what they have seen. A festival discussion can provide a place for that encounter. This is an analysis of why the announced topics matter, rather than a report of conclusions from sessions that have not yet taken place.
Awards will recognise several parts of the production
The announced prizes cover directing, acting, writing, musical composition, scenography and an integrated production award. That range is useful for audiences because a theatrical work is built from several interdependent contributions. A strong production cannot be understood solely through its most visible performer. The jury’s eventual decisions will offer one structured response to those contributions, while audiences and critics may form their own readings. Coverage should identify the award category carefully rather than treat every prize as equivalent to the overall production award or infer agreement among all viewers from a panel’s decision.
For readers in Qatar, the immediate point of connection is Rashid’s leadership of that evaluating panel and the broader regional exchange it represents. The opening has established the programme, the venues and the professional questions surrounding it; the performances and final awards will supply the next evidence. Following those developments can reveal how different theatrical approaches are received across the Arab world. The most valuable continuation will be specific: the works presented, the categories recognised and the reasoning made public. Qatar’s presence is already confirmed through a named cultural practitioner, while the festival’s artistic outcome remains to unfold in Amman. Gabriel Nicolaev – CyGuru
Gabriel Nicolaev – CyGuru
Sources & further reading
QNA: Qatari participation and jury leadership
Petra: opening, jury and complete announced programme