Dubai: 'Les Miserable 2020' plays out at The Junction
This play-within-a-play takes on a classic with a contemporary twist
When a bunch of people find themselves in an old abandoned theatre for the night, they decide to entertain themselves – by performing a classic: ‘Les Miserable’.
But as with all actors, the role melds with real-life character, bringing to life a chimera of ancient times and modern moments.
This adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1962 classic was written by Egyptian writer Basem Adel and has been directed by Tariq AbouZeid. It runs at the Junction in Al Serkal Avenue on January 7, 8 and 9.
“The play is a message to humanity and history that diversity and difference is the way that brings people together and pushes them to innovate and develop, and not a way for division. Difference and diversity is what leads to the growth of human civilization, while racism and intolerance destroy it and eliminate humanity itself. I owe thanks for these ideas to the city where I have lived for 16 years, Dubai, which is a perfect example of peaceful coexistence between more than 200 nationalities and dozens of languages, religions, and races” says AbouZeid.
The show doesn’t ignore its roots – you can expect all the favourite songs, ‘I Dream a Dream’, ‘Look Down’, ‘Red and Black’. But there’s also a score of original music.
Basem Adel, the writer, says: “We tried to bring up a topic suitable for present in light of the current times that the world lives in the shadow of the pandemic, so we chose the wretched novel to be a ground to launch towards presenting such ideas and visions through a variety of people who meet by chance somewhere for a period of time, Let's see how this group interacts with each other and how the discussion ends.
The show relies on two dramatic plots, the first is external and is purely a composition about the meeting of this group together in one place, and the second is internal, which is inspired by the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, where the two plots converge together to form the entire show system, so things went wrong between the inner and the outer to unite in the end. To form the artistic vision of the show”
The 35-plus cast, from 15 different nationalities, worked over a three-month period to get the production together.” I'm so excited to watch a three months effort coming live on stage,” says Assistant Director Noha Shahwan.
Don’t miss it!
Tickets to see ‘Les Miserable 2020’ at the The Junction , Al Serkal Avenue start at Dh100. Timings: January 7 at 7.30pm; January 8 and 9 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.