Salalah Welcomes the World of Theatre. Global Stories Woven at Ofeer Festival
Ofeer International Theatre Festival Launches in Salalah with “Hot Coffee”
Souad Khalil
Wide Arab and international participation marks the first edition of the festival, while the Bahraini production opens the theatrical competition with questions of love, fear, and loneliness in a world where reality intertwines with virtual existence.
The first edition of the Ofeer International Theatre Festival was launched in the city of Salalah under the slogan “Where the Stories of the World Are Woven”, amid a distinguished official, cultural, and artistic presence. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Marwan bin Turki bin Mahmoud Al Said, Governor of Dhofar, the festival represents a cultural initiative aimed at fostering intercultural dialogue and strengthening Oman’s position on the Arab and international theatre festival map.
The opening ceremony, hosted at the Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex for Culture and Entertainment, was attended by officials, festival guests, artists, theatre practitioners, and media representatives from across the Arab world, the Gulf region, and Europe. The festival features nine theatrical productions representing Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Iraq, Bahrain, and South Africa.
Activities began with the inauguration of the accompanying exhibition, which included a variety of cultural, artistic, and heritage displays, among them a photography corner, the “Where the Stories of the World Are Woven” pavilion, a traditional heritage exhibition, an exhibition of Omani women’s traditional attire, a puppet theatre corner, an innovation and creativity section, Majlis Ofeer, and a folk arts arena.
In his address, Festival President and theatre director Al-Mu’tamad Al-Yafaei described the Ofeer International Theatre Festival as a cultural and artistic project that brings together creators from around the world and embodies the humanistic mission of theatre based on dialogue, understanding, and the meeting of cultures. He noted that the launch of the festival’s first edition was the result of determination and belief in the idea despite numerous challenges.
The ceremony also featured a documentary introducing the Sultanate of Oman and the participating countries, in addition to a heritage-inspired artistic performance entitled “Layali Ofeer” (Ofeer Nights), celebrating Omani cultural heritage and the spirit of theatrical creativity. The performance was sung by Emirati artist Roida Al Mahrouqi and reflected the cultural identity of Dhofar through music and visual storytelling.
The festival administration also announced the late Omani theatre artist Adel Abdul Rab Al-Yafaei as the Personality of the First Edition, in recognition of his significant contributions to Omani theatre. Several artists and cultural figures were honored for their contributions to the theatrical movement, while the jury panel was introduced, comprising Dr. Thamer Al-Arabid from Syria, Dr. Shabir Al-Ajmi from Oman, and Tunisian actress Amani Mabrouki.
As the opening ceremony concluded, the spotlight shifted to the stage, where the Kingdom of Bahrain inaugurated the festival’s theatrical performances with “Hot Coffee”, presented by Al-Sawari Theatre. The play was written by the late Abdullah Al-Saadawi, directed by Ibrahim Khalfan, and starred Sudaya Khalifa and Mohammed Al-Marzooq.
The performance attracted a large audience of theatre enthusiasts, critics, and artists, offering a profound human exploration of relationships and the existential questions surrounding love, fear, loneliness, and loss.
The play revolves around a man and a woman sitting before two cups of coffee in what appears to be an ordinary encounter. Gradually, however, the meeting evolves into a journey through memory and emotion, revealing postponed dreams, ambiguous truths, and imagined realities in a world where real faces increasingly blend with virtual identities.
Director Ibrahim Khalfan explained that the production reflects on the distance between what people say and what they conceal, between the individual and their image, and between love and fear. He emphasized that the play raises open-ended questions about the possibility of genuine human connection in an age marked by growing isolation and the entanglement of virtual and real-life relationships.
Between the celebratory atmosphere of the opening ceremony and the deeply human questions posed by Hot Coffee during the festival’s first theatrical evening, the Ofeer International Theatre Festival appeared to establish itself from its very first edition as a cultural platform bringing together artists from diverse countries and backgrounds, while positioning Dhofar as a space for dialogue, creativity, and human connection through the universal language of theatre.
Read: Sindh Courier partners Omani Theatre Festival
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Souad Khalil, hailing from Benghazi Libya, is a writer, poet, and translator. She has been writing on culture, literature and other general topics.
