Alzahra Sunaidi -
It’s not hard to imagine how Ibri Youth started. In fact, asking its original members, they shared that they started just like other theatre groups wherein like-minded individuals came together to pursue their passion for theatre.
In the last few years, they had been tremendously successful. They have a Youtube channel that has over 50k followers with almost every video generating not less than 30k views. One of its most successful videos has generated almost half a million views and that’s not counting the other channels like Instagram.
In the past few days, the group has also been touring the country starting from their home-base in Ibri to different places like Musandam, Nizwa and Masirah.
Wherever they perform, they have a throng of fans following them making them local celebrities.
The latest play they created was entitled ‘No Dad’ which tackles a subject dear to almost every Omani’s heart. Other than the continuous success it enjoyed online, it was the group’s ticket to be invited to perform at the Salalah Tourism Festival in the coming days.
From doing theatre to recording videos for upload on social media was a conscious decision for the members. They said Ibri Youth has been created so that it can raise and deliver social messages and awareness in the community. Through their plays and recorded videos, they wanted to able to capture their audience attention and make them engaging enough that they can help address negative habits and inspire people to commit a change.
“We started creating sketches and then our members performed them on stage. They were quite short with a specific message. We did it for quite a long time, nearly 20 years,” Khalifa al Yaqoubi, producer and photographer of the group shared.
“In recent years, we decided to shoot the sketches and made them available online particularly Youtube. We realised we will be able to reach more people that way,” he added.
While their videos enjoy good engagement now, it hasn’t always been the case.
Ibri Youth created a series for Ramadhan and had it presented on Sanad Channel. Because there was no proper financial support, they were only able to make 15 episodes and then the series wrapped up.
Despite the challenges, the episodes were quite well received and because viewership is easy to see on Facebook, they were able to determine that they have a platform and people were actually interested to watch what they create.
“The success of the series resulted in people recognising us. It encouraged us to do more,” Al Yaqoubi said.
When they almost half a million views, it made them realise that the public has a deep love for such art.
“It was a great decision for us to venture on Youtube. The world is constantly developing and it allowed us to reach an even bigger audience,” he said.
“There are different digital platforms where we could have uploaded it but YOutube is considered as one of the most popular platforms for videos and constantly attract millions of viewers. It was a great decision to join the bandwagon. Aside from that, people can view the videos anytime, anywhere,” he added.
While the team takes pride in their achievements online, they are still looking forward to performing in real theatres within the country.
This, however, is difficult to do as Ibrahim al Jassasi pointed out, there are no specialized theatres in the Sultanate that caters to their group and most of the team performances are done in make-shift stages.
Al Jassassi said that since there is no specialised institution that looks after this particular art, it has not really picked up in popularity locally.
“I think this can be addressed if there is an institution developed to overseeing the theatre’s progress and growth in the country. This kind of endeavour, it needed support not only financially but morally,” he said.
Theatre director and adviser to the Ministry of Heritage and Culture Abdul Karim Jawad admits to what is missing in the theatre scene during a seminar held during the Muscat International Book Fair. He said that Omani theatres are suffering because an institution that oversees its growth is missing.
While the Ministry of Heritage and Culture supervise this art, Ibri Youth members pointed out that there are still a lot of things that needed to be done. Other than a supervising institution, they said that there should be more theatrical workshops and training to create more interest, especially from other young people who have a passion for the craft.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
