Al Nedjari on playing the trailblazing Omar Sharif
Before he was a Hollywood icon, the inimitable Omar Sharif was one of the first Arab actors to achieve global stardom, delivering legendary performances in Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and Funny Girl. This season, his legacy returns to the stage in Hannah Khalil’s new play, Love Omar. Set backstage at the Chichester Theatre and performed at Theatro Technis, the production stars Al Nedjari as the titular icon. We caught up with Nedjari ahead of the premiere to learn more.
Hi Al. Thanks so much for talking with us today. Have you always been aware that Omar Sharif was a trailblazing Arab figure in the arts?
I was certainly aware that he was a famous film star and I was aware also that he was somewhat ‘exotic’ and that he was a heartthrob. I don’t think I actually watched any of his films when I was a youngster but I knew of them. And the concept of him being trailblazing in the context of the time I wasn’t aware of that at all. As I got older and I got into acting myself, he wasn’t somebody who interested me – in fact I was slightly antagonised by him because I was struggling with my own identity by that point and he wasn’t the sort of brand of actor I wanted to be. In fact, I wanted to distance myself from him. But on reflection I can see now that he was a trailblazing figure and part of the reason I was attracted to this show was to give some insight into what he was actually like.
What can you reveal about the story in Love Omar?
We are backstage at Chichester festival theatre in 1983 as Omar Sharif gets ready to go onstage. He meets the show’s Assistant Director properly for the first time and though she claims to be here to run lines there is something else going on…
Can you tell us a little about how Hannah Khalil put the script together?
Hannah has meticulously researched the actual production (The Sleeping Prince by Rattigan in 1983) talking to people who were involved and the play is full of wonderful anecdotes. There’s also a fictional storyline exploring the experience of being mixed heritage in the UK which feels very relevant.
What has the rehearsal process been like for you?
It’s been wonderful because it’s felt very, very pragmatic. Right from day one we were scrutinizing the text and breaking it down into bite-sized chunks, which made sense of the episodes in the story and then the episodes within the episodes. And because it’s a three-hander, the shifts between the characters are complex so doing that process of looking at the sort of bite-size components really, really helps. It’s been really refreshing doing it in that way because I’m quite often used to being in a room where there’s a devising mentality, and it starts with the mouth of a very open funnel where you’re kind of ‘yes-anding’ any idea. But this has been very anchored by the story and text, which has meant that other things have stayed very free, like the blocking and how we might play individual moments. Actually, all of that is up for grabs and still is, even with a week to go. So it’s both been very adventurous but also very secure because of its structure, which has made it great.
Have any of your experiences been similar to those described in the show?
I suppose I’ve had an experience of being the heartthrob when I was in Coronation Street and being in the public eye. Also how the outside world sees you in a particular way, which has really got nothing to do with your interior. That’s all very familiar to me.
Like Omar, you also have a wide range of experience across film and live theatre. Why do you think the stage is the right place to tell this story?
Because it’s all about backstage and the theatre. And so it has that wonderful sort of quality, which is that an audience are watching actors about to go on stage, but they’re also watching actors on stage. So it has a really interesting duality of them putting themselves in the position of actors who are about to step in front of an audience. But they already are!
Have you found it a big responsibility portraying such a beloved figure?
Actually, no. Maybe personally, before starting, I may have sort of thought, “Oh, gosh,
I’ve got to represent this person so that they are identifiably the person that people see when they, for example, watch a video.” But actually, very, very early on during my conversations with Hannah (writer) and Chris (director), it was clear that the danger is that it becomes an Omar Sharif impression and that’s not actually intrinsically interesting. So I’ve been relieved of that, and I’ve fully embraced the liberty of investigating the text as a way of revealing the character rather than going the other way around.
Thanks very much to Al for telling us about this fascinating production.
Love Omar runs at Theatro Technis from Thursday 7 May to Wednesday 6 June.
