Short+Sweet Theatre: The biggest little play festival returns to Dubai
See eight to 12 plays for just one ticket…
Short+Sweet Theatre 2022 returns to Dubai running over the weekends (Saturday and Sunday) from January 29 to March 20. The What’s On award-winning festival returns to its home at The Junction in Alserkal Avenue for eight weeks and this year marks its 10-year milestone in the UAE.
Haven’t heard of Short+Sweet Theatre? Well, it’s a theatre festival where the audience can witness a number of plays in one night. The plays, like all stories, will need to have a beginning, a middle and an end but, with Short+Sweet, there’s a plot twist. The plays will have to be just 10 minutes long and not a second more. That’s the beauty of Short+Sweet, it’s… erm… short and sweet.
The festival offers up a platform to local talent from all walks of life, so everything from the script to the direction and the actors are all based in UAE.
Artistic Director and Co-Founder of The Junction, Gautam Goenka, is thrilled about the return of the festival. He said, ‘it is certainly one of the biggest festivals we do each year and the talent that we uncover go on to support theatre in the city for years to come.’
Festival Director Seema Kunder added that ‘Short+Sweet has always reminded me why art, storytelling and sense of community is what makes us all so uniquely human. It is an intensely rewarding and humbling experience.’
So, how does the festival work? Let’s break it down…
Short+Sweet festival is split into two categories: Contenders (theatre/festival veterans) and the Challengers (newcomers or first-time festival participants).
Now, after each day, audience members and judges will get to vote for their favourite play. The one that gets the most votes will move on to the next round (People’s Choice Semi-Final and Judges Choice Semi-Final on March 5 and 6; and March 12 and 13.)
The winning plays will then perform at the Red-Carpet Gala Finals from March 18 to 20.
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Contenders will perform every Saturday and Sunday evening at 7.30pm, while the challengers will take to the stage at 2.30pm every Sunday.
The third week will focus on non-English plays (Regional Week), followed by Mythology and Musicals week – where the plays are based on either or both themes.
Want tickets? They can be purchased on dubaiplatinumlist.net. Prices are Dhs100 for the individual tickets, Dhs125 for the gala finals and Dhs150 for the red carpet gala event (available only March 20).
Short+Sweet Dubai, The Junction, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz, Dubai, January 29 to March 20. (Fri and Sat), ticket prices start from Dhs100. Tel: (0)4 3388 525. @shortnsweetdxb @junctiondubai
Images: Short+Sweet Dubai
