Theatre aficionados in the Arab world are not unaware of the theatrical works of Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah. While his work speaks volumes in the Arab world, it is time for a wider audience to admire his work.

To reach a new audience, the publishing group supervising the literary corpus of Sheikh Dr. Sultan, Al Qasimi Publications, has launched an initiative to translate his plays into English.

The aim of the project is to compile English translations of all 11 of his dramatic works that including— ‘The Case’, ‘Reality is a True Replica’ and ‘Alexander the Great’, in a boxed collection. Not just that, theatre buffs will also get to access recorded performances of the plays with the help of QR codes in the set.

At present, only the first play ‘The Return of Hulagu’, by Sheikh Dr. Sultan is currently available in English. The work, published in Arabic in 1998, will be the first title in the coming collection.

The play is named after the Mongol ruler and grandson of Genghis Khan, who effectively ended the Abbasid Dynasty after the 1258 siege of Baghdad.

In his introduction to the play’s first edition, Sheikh Dr. Sultan shared that he saw similarities between what had happened to the Abbasid Dynasty before its fall and the state of the Arab world before the turn of the 21st century.

While there is no confirmation when the boxed collection of English works will be published, Sheikh Dr. Sultan’s 2008 play Nimrod – based on the biblical king and great-grandson of Noah will be presented in both English and Arabic at the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy in February. The play will be directed by the executive director, Peter Barlow.

Apart from the English translation of theatrical plays, Sheikh Dr. Sultan’s works have been translated into several languages, including French, German, Spanish, Russian, Hindi and Malayalam.