اخبار السعودية – وطن نيوز
عاجل اخبار السعودية – اخبار اليوم السعودية
W6nnews.com ==== وطن === تاريخ النشر – 2026-06-29 00:35:00
The theatrical movement in Kuwait represents a story of passion, struggle, study, talent, and hard work. Its lines were written by an elite of the country’s men who believed in theater as a purposeful message that conveys the social, cultural, political and living reality, and reflects hopes and ambitions for reform and change, and as a means of education, awareness and guidance before it is a means of entertainment, recreation and enjoyment. These people made extraordinary efforts over the years of their lives since they were young, and were dedicated to their work and persevered, and watered their talents with knowledge, training and assistance. Each other, overcoming all difficulties and challenges until they achieved the impossible and became pioneers in their field at the local and Gulf levels, achieving an artistic and theatrical renaissance known for its leadership and brilliance. This leadership would not have been achieved without the generous official support from the state as it took its first steps after independence towards construction and development at various levels. Many names emerged in the Kuwaiti theatrical and artistic movement, some of whom excelled in acting, others in directing, and others in script writing. There are some whose multiple talents led him to combine this and that, and his name was recorded with a golden ink in the record of immortal pioneers of theatre, which is considered the father of the arts and the first since the time of the Greeks and Romans, and in fact the relatively newer literary genre compared to poetry in Arab societies. One of these is Abdul Rahman Al-Duwaihi, whose biography and creative career we will document here as a pioneer of Kuwaiti theatre, especially since he combined directing, acting and script writing, and his activity extended from theater to cinema and radio. And television, in addition to his emergence as one of the poets of what is known in Kuwait as Al-Zuhairiyat, that is, short popular poetry. Thus, it was not strange for some to call him the sheikh of Kuwaiti directors, and others to call his Zuhairiyat “Al-Duwaihiyat.” This is not to mention that the man lived through the beginnings of the theatrical movement in his country, and accompanied its development, growth, and prosperity until his absence from the scene with his death, may God have mercy on him, on July 26, 1996. He also knew closely all or most of the pioneering Kuwaiti artists such as Khaled Al-Nafisi, Ghanem Al-Saleh, Abdul-Hussein Abdul-Rida, Saad Al-Faraj, Ali Al-Mufidi, Ibrahim Al-Salal, and Aqab Al-Khatib. He was born Abdul Rahman bin Suleiman bin Dwaihi. Al-Duwaihi (nicknamed “Abu Dhahi”) was born in 1934 in the Al-Qibla neighborhood in Fareej Al-Sindh, but he lived most of his life in the Salhiya neighborhood on Fahd Al-Salem Street. His birth was to his father, who belongs to the Al-Duwaihi family. The latter immigrated to Kuwait in the nineteenth century from the Najd town of Jalajel and lived in the Al-Jablah and Al-Salihiyah neighborhoods of the capital, and intermarried with many well-known Kuwaiti families such as; Al-Shaiji, Al-Bakhit, Al-Issa, Al-Marjan, Burahma, Al-Hawal and Al-Eid, according to the Kuwait History Forum website. He grew up under the supervision of his parents with his six siblings (Abdulaziz, Abdul-Mohsen, Abdullah, Abdul-Razzaq, Munira, and Fatima), but he suffered from orphanhood at the age of six with the death of his father in 1940. He enrolled to study with Al-Mutawa “Mullah Muhammad bin Sharaf” in his traditional ketubah in the Qibla region, where he studied The Holy Qur’an, then he moved to Al-Qibliyya School, where he completed the kindergarten stage with remarkable success and distinction. Then he continued his studies in this school until the third grade of primary school, from which he moved to Al-Mubarakiya School, where he only had two weeks remaining in the fourth grade of primary school. After that, he completed his studies in the Ahmadiyya School. The signs of his brilliance, intelligence, and cleverness began to appear when he was in the Qibliyya School, where he was always participating in school activities, including his recitation of the Holy Qur’an in the morning school assembly with his beautiful voice, and his presenting short acting clips on the school stage, which caught the attention of his school principal at the time, educator Abdul Malik Al-Saleh. At that time, it was customary for schools to hold a celebration at the end of the academic year that included the presentation of a historical play and a comic play. The principal chose him to participate in a historical play of which he was the director, entitled “The War of Al-Basous.” Al-Duwaihi performed the role assigned to him perfectly when he was nine years old. He also participated in the comic play alongside Saleh Al-Ujairi (later known astronomer), Khaled Al-Jassar (later minister), and Aqab Al-Khatib (well-known theatrical artist). Since his participation in that, Al-Duwaihi has been in charge. With acting, as evidenced by the fact that he encouraged the children of his residential neighborhood (including Abdulaziz Mustafa and Youssef Muhammad Rashid) and cooperated with them to bring a number of rocks from which to build a stage, then they borrowed men’s and women’s clothes from their homes to use in acting, and on top of that they made entry tickets from their school notebooks to sell them to those who wanted to watch. Al-Duwaihi told us about his professional beginnings, saying that he was in the year 1956 in Lebanon, and when he returned to Kuwait he found He was waiting for a letter from director Muhammad Al-Nashmi inviting him, in his capacity as director of the Popular Theater, to join this theatre, which was previously known as the “National Scout Troupe.” Our friend was quick to respond and joined the Popular Theater in September 1957, and at that time he was working in the Public Health Department as treasurer, joining others who had preceded him, such as Abdullah Khuraibet, Abdul-Razzaq Al-Nafisi, Khaled Al-Nafisi, Hussein Ghuloum, and others. Thus, our friend participated in a group of the first Kuwaiti theatrical works, which were improvised, written and directed by Muhammad Al-Nashmi, such as: “Qaraa and Salbukh”, “The File is Lost”, “Lost of Hope” and “Sharbaka”. In the year 1964, Al-Duwaihi founded the “Arab Theater” with Khaled Al-Nafisi, Abdul-Hussein Abdul-Rida, Saad Al-Faraj, Ghanem Al-Saleh, Hussein Yaqoub Al-Ali, Hussein Al-Saleh, Abdul-Wahhab Al-Sultan, and Jaafar Al-Moumen. And Adnan Hussein, moved to him, and appeared as an actor on his stage in four serious plays in classical Arabic directed by the great Egyptian playwright Zaki Tulaimat Hei; “The Quraish Falcon” was written by Mahmoud Taymour, “She Missed the Train” written by Tawfiq Al-Hakim, “The Funny Caliph” was written by Ali Ahmed Bakathir, and “Adam and Eve” adapted by Fattouh Al-Nashati. This was before he resigned from the Arab Theater in the year of its founding, and returned again to the “Popular Theater” to remove it from improvisational and chaotic work. In the same year, he presented his first real experience in writing the text and directing through a play. The successful “Sakana Marta” in which he gathered a number of the band’s stars. This was followed by his presenting a group of successful works for the popular theater as a director, author, and actor. After the successes he achieved, he prepared or wrote a number of plays, including: “Madness is Arts” and “Wrong, People” in 1964, “Casino Umm Anbar” in 1966, “Vote Me” and “The Last Model Thief” in 1967, and “Roznama” in 1970, noting that all of them were directed by him, except “Madness is Arts,” which was directed by his colleague Khaled Al-Saqabi, not to mention his writing of the play “Be Patient and Watch,” which was directed by the Egyptian Hamdi Farid in 1965, and is considered the first Kuwaiti theatrical work whose events take place within a framework of fantasy and comedy. In addition to the above, Al-Duwaihi directed plays written by others, such as: “He Gives Time and Does Not Neglect” in 1966, “Cowboy in the Teddy Bear” in 1970, and “Ibrahim III” in 1973, “We Heat the Water and the Rooster Flew” in 1974, “A Graduate’s Predicament” in 1976, and “Building No. 20” in 1978. His activity also extended to television drama, as he portrayed the character of the blind Kuwaiti poet Fahd Al-Askar in the “Journey and Departure” trilogy, which was produced in 1979, and he participated in the series “Fates” in 1978 with Abdul Hussein. Abdul-Rida, Saad Al-Faraj, Ghanem Al-Saleh, Ibrahim Al-Salal, Khaled Al-Eid, Abdulaziz Al-Namsh and Samir Al-Qallaf, brilliantly performing the role of “Al-Nawkhatha bin Eidan.” Another thing that deserves credit for Al-Duwaihi in the history of Kuwaiti art is that he wrote the first local play produced by Kuwait Television in 1964, and it was entitled “If it is missed, what is the use of sound?” It is a play starring Saad Al-Faraj, Abdul-Wahab Al-Sultan and Hussein Al-Saleh. Al-Dosari, with which Kuwait participated in the Television Festival in Alexandria, noting that he later wrote other skits for television, such as; “The Flood” and “You have nothing but your gut.” Then, in 1975, he wrote the story, screenplay and dialogue for the film “Silence” by director Hashem Muhammad Al-Fakhs, which is considered the second cinematic experience in Kuwait after the film “But Ya Bahr” by director Khaled Al-Siddiqi. He also contributed early to Kuwaiti radio by writing and directing a play entitled “A Doctor Who Treats People While They Are Sick,” which was presented live. On the other hand, Al-Duwaihi was behind the discovery of a number of Kuwaiti talents who later became famous in theatrical, dramatic and radio works such as; Maryam Al-Ghadhban, Jassim Al-Nabhan, Taiba Al-Faraj, Ahmed Al-Saleh, Ibrahim Al-Salal, Abdulaziz Al-Namsh, and Abdulaziz Al-Masoud. He was also behind the production of a number of plays, including; The play “The Clown” in 1980, written by Muhammad Al-Maghout and directed by Ahmed Musaed, and the play “The Sultan’s Court Ruled” in 1982, directed by Najm Abdul Karim. “Al-Duwayhiyat” We said that Al-Duwayhi wrote short popular poetry known as Al-Zuhairiyat, and he became famous for it, so he began calling his Zuhairiyat “Al-Duwayhiyat.” His first attempts were in 1962, when he was in Cairo, where he wrote Zuhayria’s beginning is, “Oh I am sorry, I do not see solace in your friend.” Those who examined his Zuhayria and wrote about them agreed that they were diverse in terms of topics and purposes, and in a way that enriched his poetic experience and gave them some distinction, and that he succeeded in blending originality, heritage, and contemporaneity and using a mixture of ancient and modern verbal synonyms, classical and colloquial, which gave his Zuhayria strength and richness. On the other hand, his florets can be viewed as coming from a poet with sensitive feelings and sincere expression, and from a cheerful, sarcastic person who aims to correct and reform his society and encourage it to uphold good morals and adhere to authentic values and principles. Among his florets, which he published in poetry collections, and which he published before that on the last page of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa since 1994, is one entitled “Half-solutions,” in which he said: Half-solutions are not the whole situation. Halves and threes, oh you are a quarter, halves are not equal. When a bird flies, pluck what flies, unless pure things come together. Insaf. Another video entitled “Oh Dahi” in which he said: “Dhahi has gluttonous and there is nothing in gluttony that makes me laugh. I am tired of you, and I see you are greying. I am with you. There is something that destroys and something that builds us to an understanding, O Dahi. Let the time come.” Oh God, you see, and for our sons, we find you for our sake. He will give up his milk and their milk, and he said, “Oh God, this world is graying me.” A career that deserved more. Al-Duwaihi was honored more than once, as the Arab Theater Company honored him on “Arab Theater Day,” and he was honored at the Gulf Theater Festival in the State of Qatar in 1990, then This was repeated on June 4, 1996 by the Kuwaiti Artists Association, and because he was sick at the time in Al-Sabah Hospital, the then Minister of Information, Sheikh Saud Al-Nasser Al-Sabah, accompanied by the President of the Kuwaiti Artists Association, Abdulaziz Al-Mufarrej (Shadi Al-Khaleej), moved to the hospital to honor him there. His memory was also celebrated within the activities of the seventh “Summer Cultural” Festival at the Kuwait National Library in 2012, and a cultural beacon was erected for him in which the critic Dr. Ibrahim Ghuloum and the literary poet Mubarak Amr Al-Amari from the Kingdom of Bahrain participated. But despite all this, some believe that Al-Duwaihi did not receive his due honor because his contributions to his country and its art went beyond acting, writing and directing, establishing and managing theatres, contributing to radio and television drama, discovering talents, and composing popular poetry, to mastering and mastering the language of theater and drama, and reviving ancient vocabulary in the colloquial Kuwaiti dialect.
