An Arabic adaption of the acclaimed West End music "Oliver!," translated into Arabic and set in the Arab world, will open in Amman on Sept. 1.
The musical production will feature underprivileged Syrian and Jordanian children and is based off the classic Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist."
“Adapting the play to the modern Arab world was the idea of [Egyptian actor and director] Khaled Abol Naga because the Arab world has many similarities with the social conditions Charles Dickens was writing about,” Charlotte Eagar, co-founder of Refuge Drama Productions, said according to The Jordan Times.
“We’ve been doing drama therapy for two years here and the key thing is to choose a play [with which] the children or the people who are doing it can identify."
Abol Naga felt the play would definitely be something the actors could identify with.
“Amman is the first city that hosts waves of refugees in the region. The choice of Oliver was perfect for me because it is about a child who has a natural sense of his rights to eat properly and not being insulted,” he said.
The original story of Oliver Twist takes place in London and centers around the life of Twist, an orphan child. In this new adaption the setting will be an unnamed Arab city. It will run from Sept. 1 to 3 at Amman’s Royal Cultural Centre.
