SAUDI ACTRESS STIRS MIXED GENDER AUDIENCE IN JEDDAH

C O N F I D E N T I A L JEDDAH 000087 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARP,NEA/PPD E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2014 TAGS: KDEM KPAO PGOV SA SCUL SUBJECT: SAUDI ACTRESS STIRS MIXED GENDER AUDIENCE IN JEDDAH REF: JEDDAH 0079 Classified By: CG Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A one-act play, &Head over Heels,8 was performed before a small but warmly approving mixed gender audience at Effat University, a private, all-women,s university in Jeddah on February 12. The play, written by and starring Maisah Sobaihi, King Abdul Aziz University Assistant Professor of Linguistics, used comedy to highlight the social, cultural and marital challenges facing Saudi women. According to the playwright, she changed &absolutely nothing8 about the script for the mixed audience. END SUMMARY. 2.(SBU) Maisah Sobaihi,s performance included a skit in which a Saudi couple remain married but separate after the husband secretly takes a second wife without wife number one,s knowledge or approval. Sobaihi raises the issue of &Misrah8 marriages, discreet "marriages of convenience" in which the man bears no financial obligation to the woman. A once-divorced woman enters such a marriage only to be quickly divorced as a result of the husband,s fear that his first wife would discover the secret marriage. "Head over Heels" also raises the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, and human rights aspect aside, speaks to the financial burden placed on Saudi men to provide drivers for females in the family. JEDDAH AUDIENCE APPROVAL BUT AUTHOR NOT READY FOR RIYADH PRIME TIME 3.(C) The comedy was followed by an hour-long discussion. Both male and female audience members posed engaging questions and voiced general approval as well as suggestions for future performances. One dual national Saudi woman said of Sobaihi: &She takes a serious issue and presents it in a light-hearted, generally entertaining manner.8 One Saudi man who obviously enjoyed the show confirmed he only attended the performance because his sister asked him to, but expressed hope that Sobaihi would continue her work. A Saudi husband, who came at the urging of his wife, stated: &I,m surprised at how much I learned about Saudi women tonight. This is a good play for all Saudi men to see.8 Asked about performing in the more conservative Nejd heartland, author/actress Sobaihi replied: &I have been approached by Riyadh, but I,m chicken." 4.(SBU) The audience, approximately 85 women and 40 men, included diplomats, expatriates and more Saudi women than men. This was the second time Sobaihi performed the play at Effat University, an all-women,s institution, but the first before an audience which included males. The mixed gender audience was segregated by a partition. 5.(C) COMMENT: The fact that a female playwright was able to perform a play with frank dialogue seeking to highlight the challenges and injustices Saudi women face is no mean feat in Saudi Arabia. And perhaps as important, Ms. Sobaihi was able to stage a work, in which she freely drops references to sex and women's lingerie, before a mixed gender audience. Sobaihi,s admission that she is too "chicken" to perform in Riyadh underscores the relative cultural freedom enjoyed by Jeddawis compared to the rest of the Kingdom. What passes in strict Saudi society as daringly avant-garde cultural events seem to be occurring with greater frequency lately (Jeddah 0079, comedian Ahmed Ahmed's February 21 show),but it remains to be seen whether the fell hand of the Mutawwa vice and virtue patrol will be stayed indefinitely. END COMMENT. QUINN