It might not have escaped your notice that Dubai is about to witness two short play festivals. You might think the world of 10-minute theatre is a bit too circumscribed for this kind of arm-wrestling, but it is happening – two competitions vying for the same participants and indeed the same audiences on the same dates and with the same prices.
Backstory: for some years now the Short+Sweet organisation has been doing 10-minute play festivals around the world – including Short+Sweet Dubai, which until last year was effectively outsourced to and housed at The Junction in Alserkal Avenue.
For 2026, S+S has decided to set up its own operation and its own festival. At the time (last September) it said “this move to a direct-management model follows the recent conclusion of the organisation’s third-party licence agreement in the UAE. It marks a renewed commitment to artist-first governance and paves the way for a suite of new initiatives designed to discover and elevate local talent …”
And to that end Dubai’s New Covent Garden Theatre has been booked for Short+Sweet Dubai 2026. There’s a nice symmetry to this: the first S+S Dubai was held inn2013 at Ductac, the original tenant of Mall of the Emirates’ carpark-adjacent venue. The festival moved to The Junction the following year and stayed there … until last year.
The Junction responded: it decided to leverage its position and 13 years’ experience of actually running a microplay festival to come up with a direct competitor called X Fest DXB 2026 (which has nothing to do with the short-lived tech-plus-art X Fest in Alserkal Avenue a couple of years ago).
And now we have the situation with two not-very-dissimilar festivals. They are running across the same dates, weekends from 18 April to 24 May. They both feature the 10-minute limit on play length (which to be fair has long been a standard for the short-play format). The seat prices are the same (AED 120 for the heats, AED 150 for the later stages). And they’ve both been promoting themselves to the same theatre community.
It’s not clear who’s winning the battle for participants. The X Fest promo promises at least 10 original plays each weekend, and they have two evening sessions on five successive weekends (Saturday, Sunday) plus a full three (Friday too) on the final one, 22-24 May. Short+Sweet makes no claims about participant numbers; it also misses out the weekend of 9-10 May altogether, but has two sessions a day – 3pm and 7.30pm – on the previous three. Its sessions appear to be half an hour shorter than X Fest’s, but maybe the run time is only indicative. S+S is taking only one day for its finals weekend (23 May) but again there are two shows on the day (tickets prices tbc).
X Fest DXB has only one date with two sessions, the afternoon of 26 April; that’s labelled Youth Week (a pretty short week, but maybe they’re anticipating growing it into a separate young people’s theatre festival in the future). X Fest’s other neat variation is its third weekend (2-3 May), designated ‘Untranslated Week’ for plays performed in languages other than English – a welcome recognition that Dubai is a genuinely polyglot place.
By our count that all means a total of 14 sessions for X Fest, 18 for S+S. If you go to all the X Fest shows without any discounts you’ll pay AED 1,890; assuming S+S keeps the AED 150 price for its Gala Finals, you’ll be shelling out AED 2,340 to attend all their shows. Oddly, neither seems to be doing bulk-buy offers, not even a weekend pass.
Neither party has said too much publicly about the reasons for their falling out, and we’re not going to get into it either – except to note that in the last week the S+S people have been using social media to publicise a statement that isn’t going to smooth things over anytime soon (and presumably isn’t intended to).
There are a couple of really strong points in it: “We take the protection of our intellectual property seriously and reserve all rights in relation to its use”. Which is as it should be; IP is too valuable to risk. But this does sound like a precursor to legal action.
And then there’s the meat of the statement: “We have been made aware of concerns within the community regarding participants being discouraged from taking part in Short+Sweet Dubai. We would remind all parties that artists have the right to choose where they participate, and any effort to discourage or restrict that choice may have legal implications under the AE’s Federal Competition Law”.
Now, that sounds like an accusation; there would seem to be only one organisation that might conceivably seek to discourage participation in S+S Dubai.
Maybe things will be clearer (and friendlier?) after the two festivals have finished. But even if there’s no illegality, the head-to-head nature of the competition and the coincident dates and evening timings are surely going to mean that audiences and performers will be taking sides. In neither case can you make a decision based on who’s performing or directing, or what the playlets themselves are. But there’s a lot of good theatre in Dubai, actors, directors and companies (and there are more original playscripts too); maybe there is enough room for two festivals, which would imply something over 125 separate playlets involving say 350-400 people.
The Junction has the track record, the practical experience, and importantly the contacts in Dubai’s theatre world. Short+Sweet has the organisation, the international heft, and importantly the name. It all kicks off (as it were) on 18 April …
As an ardent loyalist of the craft – for more than 15 years in this city – this incident saddened me and in my opinion, i think it was completely unethical of S+S to break away from the Junction (like a band-aid rip) without justified proven reason to do the same and at the same time creating a divide in the community.
Dubai is a place where people reach a solution sitting across the table and deciding the best course of action for the culture/ the partners / the brand / the community. However, they chose to part ways with the space which grew their brand over past 10 years with complete diligence encouraging all of local talent and local production groups to display their love for the craft, without even bothering to sit across the table to have a civilized discussion about the situation.
The Junction has nurtured the brand of S+S like a child and given it 10 years of care / growth / community whilst creating an annual revenue element for themselves. So it feels completely right for them to protect their revenue chain by putting their best foot forward to stand up to the situation and putting up their own local home grown festival. And of course – almost the entire community (barring a few misguided people) has complete clarity of who they wish to stand by and are going all out to support X FEST at The Junction – the home of community theatre in Dubai and the place where the community comes together every weekend to create / bond / grow.
I think it’s important not to reduce this to something as simple as “misguided individuals,” because from what I understand, the situation is actually a lot more complex than that.
There have been ongoing concerns over a period of time around how things were being managed, including issues relating to agreements, transparency, and how participants were treated. These aren’t small matters, and they’ve clearly had real consequences.
It’s also worth remembering that Short+Sweet is an international festival with a long history and a very specific model that’s been applied consistently around the world. When that model isn’t followed, it’s understandable that action would be taken.
I don’t think it helps the community to dismiss people involved as “misguided” when there are clearly deeper issues at play. Whatever side people take, it’s probably more useful to recognise that there’s more to this than what’s visible on the surface.
hey amaan – pls do read my clarification that i have posted yday and i hope you would understand my feelings. thanks / satyen
Hey Satyen, yes I did. Thank you. Appreciate it. All the best for your shows. Peace!
My daughter is taking part in Short+Sweet this year, and I just wanted to share a parent’s perspective.
For them, this is an opportunity to build confidence, be creative, and be part of something positive. We’ve seen how much it means just to be involved in theatre and to have a chance to perform.
So it’s quite upsetting to see participants being referred to as “misguided” or made to feel like they shouldn’t be part of something like this. These are people who are simply trying to learn, grow, and express themselves.
From where we stand, this festival is giving young and emerging artists a platform and a voice — and that should be encouraged, not criticised.
At the end of the day, they’re just trying to do something constructive and creative, and we’re proud of them for it.
Hello to you and firstly i would like to wish your talented daughter a heartfelt “break a leg” for her performance. I am sure she is gonna be amazing..
and secondly pls do refer to my clarification on the word “misguided” as i feel you might have missed that. pls do read that and i would hope it clarifies my feelings.
As an actress involved in Short+Sweet this year, I just wanted to say something from a personal perspective.
I honestly don’t know anything about all the background issues or “drama” people are talking about — I’m just here because I love theatre and I want to perform.
Short+Sweet is an international festival, it’s been around for years all over the world, and for actors like me it’s a great opportunity to get on stage, do the work, and be part of something creative.
So it’s actually quite upsetting to see people being described as “misguided” just for taking part. We’re not trying to be part of any conflict — we just want to act, tell stories, and be part of the theatre community.
I don’t really understand why that’s something to be criticised.
At the end of the day, we’re just artists who want to do a play.
hey kethi,
i have clarified my comment and i hope you can feel where i am coming from
thanks / satyen
@amaan / @kethi –
let me firstly apologize by clarifying that my adjective of “misguided” was not in any way aimed at all participants. I’m really sorry about that. It is absolutely a choice you make and i fully respect that.
My intention of using the word “misguided” was rather intended towards describing my impression about some community friends who I really expected that if given a choice – would surely stand by the Junction after all the time their souls have spent creating magic on that stage and after all that the Junction has given their souls.
@amaan – I do feel that the issues / concerns between the 2 entities are something that are fully known only to them and that if we don’t have complete knowledge of it – we should probably refrain from heading into that territory.
From my perspective / as someone who has been regular audience, artist (performer / director) and judged at the S+S for past 6 years when held at the Junction – i was always amazed at how beautifully the festival evolved each year with more efficiency and grew community strength at the same time. Thus the feeling … that’s all..
I understand but imagine threatening people, abusing them, stopping others from participating, etc. Community is absolutely for all, who are part of it. It is to encourage and not discourage in any manner. S+S has certain international, professional standards and you know it better too. Anyway, as I see it, it’s all about insecurities or inferiorities and to compensate for something that somebody doesn’t have innate. However, it’s also not right, I think, to use words like “war” or “battle”, etc when the goal is to stand united in art and theatre… Generally speaking.
If no world class actor or actress gets produced from short form theatre in Dubai then it is an actual failure.
There is a clear gap between global standards and Dubai standards. And that is the main thing that needs to be tackled. There is a dangerous precedent set where the untested are leading people who want to learn and who are experienced. I have not seen this happen in any other city apart from Dubai. If performing arts is done without a purpose and without truly putting the artistic impact at the forefront, there is a good chance you will be told you are not professional. In Dubai, reputation trumps competence and this is a sad reality. It is a reflection of the place. Success is not questioned and when no one questions success people get trapped in a cycle of control. It is common sense. If there were more theatres in Dubai there would be more opportunities for artists. If there are qualified people running things in Dubai, there would not have been this situation in the first place because this is what happens when corporations disguised as artists infiltrate the market.