Manama: Bahrain’s dream of hosting outstanding international arts events in an appropriate theatre has come true, the culture minister has said.
“We are living a wonderful reality in which our dream of offering a stage to the world’s most wonderful cultural performances,” Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammad Al Khalifa said as the Bahrain National Theatre hosted a Russian ballet.
“It is about time we hosted a ballet performance by a troupe that mixes heritage with modernism and presents a unique experience,” she said.
The sea-front 1,001-seat theatre built at a cost of $50 million (Dh183.60 million) with an Arabian Nights theme was inaugurated last month by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa when Manama, the 2012 Capital of Arab Culture, celebrated the month of theatre.
Bahrain National Theatre was designed by the French Architecture Studio, which won this year’s gold medal in the International Academy of Architecture’s world competition.
The Architecture Studio also designed the Arab World Institute in Paris, the Muscat Cultural Centre in Oman, the City of Science and Techniques in Chongqing, China and the Onassis Foundation in Athens, Greece.
