Yemeni drama...an attempt to think outside the Ramadan season

Yemeni drama seeks to have a presence in the local arena at least, in the difficult political circumstances that the country has been facing for more than a decade. Yemeni drama production is concentrated in Ramadan, to meet the local channels that are experiencing fierce competition with at least one series this month.

Behind the scenes, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed followed the current state of Yemeni drama. According to Al-Saeeda TV’s production manager, Marwan Al-Shamiri, Yemeni drama has great opportunities because Yemeni reality encapsulates many stories and experiences that have not yet been told.

He points out that they seek to improve the quality of dramas year after year, despite the difficulties they face, explaining that the lack of infrastructure in this industry, such as academies and the lack of technical expertise, represents one of the obstacles facing production. For example, producers struggle to choose characters for trained secondary roles, so they are forced to search for people to embody these roles who have never stood in front of the camera before, and then train them, while in a country like Egypt, which has academies, dozens of trainers can be provided for these roles. This is a detail of what the Yemeni drama industry faces, which still operates with cadres that rely on self-learning.

Al-Shamiri believes that the future of drama in Yemen depends on not declining the current production volume, i.e. according to the increase witnessed in recent years, after the production volume for many years was limited to one or two works per year.

Al-Saeeda TV will air two series in Ramadan 2025, one of which is the second part, "Doroub Al-Marjala". The number of dramas for the current Ramadan has reached eight series, most notably "Al-Jamaliya" on Yemen Shabab TV, "Durra" on Al-Mahra TV, and "Tareeq Egbari" on Belqis TV. This is the first time Belqis TV has produced a TV series after it had been limited to a news genre since its establishment in 2014. Drama production had previously reached a record number during 2022 and 2023 with more than ten series. This is a weak result compared to production in other Arab countries.

Osama Al-Salihi, the production manager of Yemen Youth Channel, agrees that there is a noticeable improvement in the drama industry, noting that the Yemeni viewer today will not accept series like “Kini Mini” or “Kashkoush” which caused a stir at the time among the audience, because he has come to see the possibility of producing works of relatively better quality.

Al-Salehi confirms that dramatic competition has helped those working in this field improve, including actors whose performance varies from one series to another. This competition contributes to improving the work environment and providing more opportunities. He says that in the past, there was one editor who was rotated between series producers periodically, but now there are several of them.

This, in his opinion, would lead to the formation of a decent infrastructure in the drama industry. However, it remains limited without the existence of institutes and academies to qualify artists and workers in this sector, in addition to the absence of a production city or studios, which forces some of them to film their works outside Yemen.

Some producers still work with Arab cadres; the series “Forced Road” shown on Belqis Channel relied on an Egyptian director and cinematographer. This is not the first time, as technicians from Syria and Jordan have previously worked on Yemeni series.

In this context, the director of photography for the series “Droub Al Marjalah 2”, Rahim Al Salihi, says: “We lack many qualified cadres in several fields, such as art, lighting, decoration, clothing, makeup, and others.”

“Because there are no studios, we often have to shoot in people’s homes,” he continues. But from his point of view, this requires attention to some details, such as decor and lighting, to add an aesthetic sense.

The drama industry in Yemen began with the series “Borrowed Faces” in 1976, 16 years after the start of the drama industry in Egypt and Syria (1960). However, Yemeni production was limited to state television and during the month of Ramadan.

Al-Shamiri says that the increase in the channels’ share of local advertisements during Ramadan allowed them to cover the costs of drama production, without hiding the fact that economic conditions threaten this industry due to the reluctance of companies and advertisers to increase the advertising budget. He confirms that they can produce more works for the Ramadan season, to be shown weekly, especially if suitable scenarios are available.

He stresses that one of the biggest problems they face is the lack of professional scriptwriters, except for a few, which makes them delay producing their works before Ramadan.

From this perspective, Osama Al-Salihi confirms that there is a trend towards the emergence of dramas outside of Ramadan. Yemen Shabab Channel had produced two works, one of which was “Citizen’s Diaries” which was shown weekly during the previous year and achieved success. Al-Salihi says that with the success of the experiment, other channels may take the initiative to produce dramas outside of the Ramadan season, pointing out that there is a trend among other channels to produce dramas outside of this season.

The drama industry needs more investments that will contribute to improving the infrastructure and qualifying more professional cadres in all fields. In a turbulent political situation, such as the one in Yemen, it is difficult for this industry to witness a significant increase in investments.

Osama Al-Salihi says that the current production volume is threatened by some channels’ reliance on funding. If funding is cut off from these channels, their production will necessarily stop, while channels that rely on commercial funding, such as advertising or marketing their work to Arab channels, will continue.

The drama industry has been going through a different phase for several years now, which may be just a boom, as can be inferred from the perspective of those working in this industry, as their hopes are still surrounded by an unpredictable reality, due to political and economic conditions. The economic deterioration is reflected in the ability of Yemeni companies to increase spending on advertising, which limits the increase in spending on drama production for channels.

The unstable political reality also hinders the work environment, as some channels and producers seek not to provoke the sensitivities of some influential parties in Yemen. There are obstacles to obtaining permits to film works, as the Houthi group does not allow permits to be granted to dramas that are not produced by companies or channels affiliated with it in areas controlled by the Transitional Council, while producers are subject to harassment in areas controlled by the Transitional Council.

These factors prompted producers to film their works in Taiz, due to the facilities granted by the authorities in the city, which resulted in the filming of five series during this year. With this trend, Taiz could be a center for the drama industry in the future. However, this space granted to producers in the city faces attempts to restrict it. According to information obtained by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Taiz Culture Office seeks to play a supervisory role as the body authorized to grant permits to film dramas.

Through the state of the Yemeni drama industry, it seems that there is something good and something not so good. Given the available capabilities, Yemeni drama has achieved remarkable progress compared to previous years.

New Arab