Of course it is. The evening begins with a round of playful improv fuelled by audience suggestions. Then the spotlight shifts to "something truly magical" as magician and stand-up comedian Annanya George teams up with Rushdi Rafeek to blend illusion, [ ... ]
As his mother battles chronic depression, a child creates a list of every thing they can think of that makes life worth living. As the child grows, so does the list. Looking back on a life of ups and downs, [ ... ]
When the extent of his ugliness is revealed, Lette turns to a plastic surgeon for help – but when the bandages come off, Lette soon learns that there is such a thing as too beautiful ... The second day of [ ... ]
The second week for one of the best seasonal shows around – a whimsical blur of laughter, awe, and magic that has already been seen by more than 12 million theatregoers in80 countries around the world, including a near sellout [ ... ]
SCHLiNGEL Abu Dhabi's return continues with a full day of films for the young, taken from the international film festival for children that has been running since 1996 in Germany. All films with dialogue have English subtitles. There are three [ ... ]
Second of two performances for Ahmed El Attar's Arabic version of a touching, funny, and uplifting play originally in English.
Dubai's Poetryhood collective offers an evening of spoken word performances, mixing lyrical rappers from the hip-hop scene and mixing them with poets that bring a hip-hop flavour to the stage. The performers are Omar Awbu, Jaysus Zain and Aram Jameel.
The final day of performances (at 2.30 and 7.30pm) for Marius von Mayenburg’s very dark comedy about beauty, identity and getting ahead in life “makes its points with the lightest of touches” (The Guardian).
Known for works of glossy, abstract resin poured on to acrylic, Bowen creates luminous, aqueous fields that transform colour into a language of emotion and presence. With this show, says the gallery, "viewers are invited into an intimate space of [ ... ]
The second week for one of the best seasonal shows around – a whimsical blur of laughter, awe, and magic that has already been seen by more than 12 million theatregoers in80 countries around the world, including a near sellout [ ... ]
Dubai Culture's two-day information and edutainment event for the cultural and creative sector, showcasing the investment and development prospects offered in particular by Al Quoz Creative Zones and aimed as always at “entrepreneurs, startups, investors, and professionals interested in the [ ... ]
This moving animated feature was deservedly selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The story centres on a woodcutter and his family; they find a small girl in the forest who has been thrown [ ... ]
As part of its current SILA: All That Is Left To You exhibition, Maraya Art Centre is hosting two film screenings that extend the exhibition's exploration of Palestinian memory, resistance, and cultural legacy. Carol Mansour's documentary features 12 Palestinian women [ ... ]
This 49-minute documentary, shot on location in Al Dhaid, provides an intimate portrait of the world of Bedouin culture – camel racing, falconry, the unseen life rooted in the desert. The protagonist Abdulaziz Al Tunaiji trains camels for the nation’s [ ... ]
Dubomedy gigs are usually pretty good, especially when the price is free (with a minimum spend of AED 25 – let us know if you can find anything to buy here at that price) and a "fantastic" (their judgement) bill [ ... ]
Traditional music from Malta comes to the Cultural Foundation's outdoor amphitheatre, presented in partnership with the Embassy of Malta. The evening will showcase the art of għana, a distinctive style of Maltese folk music that probably has its roots in [ ... ]
A symphony of dance, music and documentary, exploring how roots and heritage shape our lives. For one hour, four dancers, a singer and a violinist elevate the crafting of clay dolls into a living archive of memory and expression. Through [ ... ]
The second day of Dubai Culture's information and edutainment event for the cultural and creative sector, showcasing the investment and development prospects offered in particular by Al Quoz Creative Zones and aimed as always at “entrepreneurs, startups, investors, and professionals [ ... ]
A two-act evening of improvised spells, scenes, and songs, entirely based on audience suggestions and featuring the Courtyard Playhouse's two Ahmeds for bilingual improv and then a full-length improvised musical extravaganza For the second half they're joined by guest performer [ ... ]
Fresh from a recent tour to China, the Youth Orchestra is back in Abu Dhabi with a geuinely international programme – starting with the beautiful UAE melody ‘Dar Zayed’ (soloist Rashed Al Marzooqi), the concert with feature traditional pieces from [ ... ]
Founded by filmmaker and curator Nawaf Al Janahi in 2020, Cineolio‘s mission is focused on promoting short films and expanding their audience reach internationally. Its Cinenights screening series presents a diverse selection of short films on the big screen, celebrating [ ... ]
Colonna's debut features brings an interesting angle to the mafia movie: Le royaume shows the Corsican underworld through the eyes of the 15-year-old daughter of a clan head. Caught up in a war between rival factions and on the run, [ ... ]
Dubai's very own Brazilian pop star Luisa Winck launches her new album Eternity at The Fridge, a powerful blend of R&B, Brazilian soul, and cinematic vocals.
The Courtyard's most popular evening of elimination improv, this time in partnership with the Al Jalila Foundation and in support of their campaign Be a Lifeline for Women with Cancer by Majlis Al Amal for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Ten [ ... ]
A solo show by the American artist Daniel Arsham, known for his works of 'fictional archaeology' expressed through sculpture, architecture, drawing, and film – what he calls “future relics of the present.” Arsham will transform the gallery into a sonic [ ... ]
Competitive improv: teams representing the legendary wizarding houses from Harry Potter franchise face off in a fast-paced tournament of wit, wizardry, and wild imagination. Expect magical mayhem, enchanted audience suggestions, and fierce loyalty as Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin go [ ... ]
A former noise-rock indie musician and largely self-taught, Grinko's piano compositions are genuinely quite special – blending neoclassical tunes, cinematic atmosphere, and (usually) an air of delicate melancholy. With millions of fans around the world and numerous viral hits, Grinko [ ... ]
New ink drawings on paper and acrylic paintings on canvas from the French-based Syrian artist that offer viewers a journey through colour, symbolism, and contemplation. These are works that "reflect on the mystical power of nature, its geometry and order, [ ... ]
A group exhibition for four distinguished Palestinian women artists – Rania Amoudi, Dina Matar, Fatima Abu Rumi, and Marwa Alnajjar – that offers a powerful counterpoint to static portrayals of femininity and nationhood. Grounded in place yet transcending borders, the [ ... ]
The first solo exhibition in the UAE for the Tehran-based artist-designer presents a collection of the artist’s jewellery and wearable sculptures. Body Geometry is a research-based project, where the design process is presented as well as the finished pieces. As [ ... ]
A lyrical duet that weaves together music and poetry, Searching for Love transports audiences to the streets of Cairo to examine themes of love, alienation and longing. Director and writer Nanda Mohammad joins composer and violinist Mohamed Sami to offer [ ... ]
Kiarostami wrote and directed this deceptively simple but highly affecting film about a journalist posing as a city engineer who arrives in a Kurdish village to document the locals' mourning rituals in anticipation of the death of an old woman. [ ... ]
A unique cross-cultural experience by the acclaimed French-Lebanese trumpeter and composer Ibrahim Maalouf. Known for his innovative quarter-tone trumpet, Maalouf seamlessly bridges Arab traditions with jazz, classical, and contemporary influences; this concert promises a programme of well-loved works like "True [ ... ]
A second bout of competitive improv between teams representing the legendary wizarding houses from Harry Potter. The audience cheers, scores, and helps decide who will triumph ... As always at Courtyard improv events it's free, but you need to put [ ... ]
A group show of paintings, sculptures, and photographs by a number of well-known contemporary artists that explore contrasts of material, form, and colour. The artists: Kenia Almaraz Murillo Nick Brandt Ian Davenport Hubert Le Gall Umberto Mariani Landon Metz Marc [ ... ]
The group show brings together artists from the MENA region and its diaspora whose practices engage fertility as a generative force tied to questions of origin, transformation, and the cycles that govern land and self. Across drawing, painting, ceramics, textiles, [ ... ]
A group exhibition of photography and mixed media works by El3attar Film Collective – Cynthia Zahar, Georges Yammine, and Mohammad Al Hawajri. Through preserving and reconfiguring found materials, stories, and images, each artist tackles themes of memory, war, and change. [ ... ]
This major exhibition marks the ten-year anniversary of 421 Arts Campus via a chance to reflect on emergent artistic practices in the UAE, their possibilities, and challenges for the future. Featuring video, performance, installation, and multimedia works, it invites conversations [ ... ]
A two-day symposium of readings, discussions, and shared meals as part of that unfolds across Sharjah as part of Sharjah Architecture Triennial's DAAS programme. DAAS is Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Studies, a programme with no fixed curriculum but instead an environment [ ... ]
A time travelling adventure, where poetry saves the world as Blake journeys through time to win back his true love Grace ... The show demonstrates how to master rhyme, rhythm, and imagery while rooting for Blake’s quest to win back [ ... ]
This high-energy comedy explores poetry through live performances, linking classic literature with contemporary works and showcasing techniques like metaphor, symbolism, and why words matter — with plenty of laughs along the way. One of a series of shows today and [ ... ]
A dynamic performance showcasing Wilfred Owen's most powerful poems, including “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth.” The show explores poetic techniques like imagery, irony, and rhythmic schemes while reflecting on the brutal realities of World War I. [ ... ]
A third and final evening of competitive Halloween improv between teams representing the legendary wizarding houses from Harry Potter. The audience cheers, scores, and helps decide who will triumph ... As always at Courtyard improv events it's free, but you [ ... ]
For his third solo exhibition here, the French-Algerian artist has taken inspiration from Kometenbuch (The Comet Book), a 16th-century Flemish treatise depicting comets and fantastical apparitions; Benchamma suggests how astronomy and astrology, science and folklore, continue to overlap in shaping [ ... ]
Exhibiting for the first time in Dubai, Lebanese artist Mahmoud El Safadi is showing a collection of miniature paintings on playing cards, a series of works that reflect on the Mediterranean as a site of memory, inheritance, and continuity – [ ... ]
A solo exhibition by Paris-based artist Sophie-Yen Bretez for a new body of work that captures moments when one space becomes another, when times overlap, and when memory persists as life shifts forward. This “dramaturgy of passage” is expressed through [ ... ]
Artist and writer Hussein Nassereddine, the Alserkal Arts Foundation's Fall 2025 resident, presents an afternoon of film and reading around poetics of time, repetition, and the limits of language. He will present his recent video work You, Only, Inhabit My [ ... ]
A second performance for this time travelling adventure, where poetry saves the world as Blake journeys through time to win back his true love ... The show demonstrates how to master rhyme, rhythm, and imagery while rooting for Blake’s quest [ ... ]
A second performance for this high-energy exploration of poetry through live performances, linking classic literature with contemporary works and showcasing techniques like metaphor, symbolism, and why words matter — with plenty of laughs along the way. One of a series [ ... ]
The region’s leading (only significant?) design festival returns for its 11th edition with the usual hectic mix of commissions, exhibitions, installations, talks and live events. Natasha Carella, DDW’s Director, said this year the programme was taking a more reflective approach [ ... ]
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