Hamlet in Kuwait the film  here

Perhaps this version of Shakespeare's Hamlet should be renamed 'A Comedy of Errors' because this film of the play staged in Kuwait City and made on a low-budget wing and a prayer is, at times, hilarious. The feature length documentary Hamlet in Kuwait, which I shot in another lifetime, was one of the most chaotic and anarchic experiences I have ever experienced; all of which is captured in this film. I doubt Shakespeare has ever been presented as farce but there are moments that I witnessed on camera which you couldn't make up. It's a kind of road movie - shot ob-doc style - following an English acting company led by a returning Kuwaiti director who is determined to present his own idiosyncratic interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet to the citizens of Kuwait. Sulayman is one of the most charismatic people I have ever met and he has since gone on to be quite famous in the world of international theatre. The film was made ten years after the first Gulf War (when Saddam invaded Kuwait) and weaves together two narrative threads - eavesdropping on the theatre company as they build up to their first night - and exploring the 'state of Kuwait' which, I discovered was a state of mind of a nation who were still processing the trauma of the invasion. I was granted remarkable access to people and places - often accompanied by a young (and a little inexperienced) female 'minder' from the Ministry of Information; indeed, as I sought to go awol, we engaged in a kind of dance of me shooting where I shouldn't and she trying to keep tabs on me; note to self never film any of the ruling families palaces...

One of the things the film reveals is the reverence that arabs have for Shakespeare. There are many anarchic highlights - the night the whole company arrived at the TV studio to publicise the play on a live show and the astonishing farce I captured behind the scenes  - the hapless presenters (the Richard and Judy of Kuwait)  banal attempts to cope as things go wrong; the all night rehearsals when things fell apart and yet the clock was ticking to the first night; the bewildered and amused English cast trying to make sense of things; the beginning of the live performance backstage when the sound system failed in the theatre; and the behaviour of the packed audience who come and go throughout the performance never turning their 'phones off...and yet many greatly appreciated the performance. Throughout is the compelling presence of Sulayman - who provides a meta-commentary on his country - he's both insider and outsider; sometimes at a loss, bemused and insightful; at other times driven by a mission and the calm centre as all about him falls apart.