About: Theatre in Yemen

Theatre has been performed in Yemen since the early years of the twentieth century. It is, as elsewhere, a public and social genre: performances take place in cultural centers, at universities, at schools and language institutes, in public parks and squares, as well as at more intimate gatherings, such as wedding celebrations. By the count of one scholar of Yemeni theatre, a minimum of five hundred plays of all kinds have been performed in Yemen over the course of the last century, around three hundred and seventy of which are by Yemeni authors; there are also around one hundred published Yemeni play scripts.Some of these plays have taken uniquely Yemeni themes as their subject matter: particular moments or celebrated figures from Yemeni history, like Bilqis, the legendary Queen of Sheba;