The Iraqi capital will host its first Arab drama festival, "Baghdad Festival for Young Arab Theatre", this November centred on the theme "theatre is the alternative life."

Organised by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, the event, which is running from 6-12 November, will feature Laylat Al-Qatala (Night of the Assassins), an Egyptian adaptation of Cuban playwright Jose Triana's political classic of the same name. The festival's programme is also set to include shows by theatre troupes hailing from Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia.

Night of the Assassins, staged by promising theatre director Tamer Karam, focuses on revolution and rebellion while tackling the questions of political freedoms and choice.  

A play within a play, the story revolves around three siblings, portrayed by Al-Tali'a troupe actors Mohamed Younes, Jessy Adel, and Riham Samy, who decide to rebel against their parents and murder them in their imagination.

Poignant at times and comic at others, the drama examines the contemporary phenomenon of resistance: youth revolt against the authority of their parents, which becomes a metaphor for resistance against the power of society and government. Essentially, the play calls for change.

It was initially performed by the Al-Tali’a theatre group in the spring following last year's January 25 Revolution. Translated from Cuban, the play will be performed in standard Arabic dialect so that it will be understood by an Iraqi audience.