A Star Who Never Took the Stage
In the theater, we are accustomed to viewing the stage as the place where the story is crafted, and to seek out the names of the actors, the director, and the playwright. Yet there are other stories created away from the spotlight, unseen by the audience and perhaps unknown even to those involved, despite the fact that they are often an essential part of the success we witness, enjoy, and applaud.
One such story caught my attention during a performance of the play "The Engineer of Public Taste," which I attended a few days ago. To be honest, I did not go this time to write about the performance, nor to add a new perspective to what colleagues have already written about the play, especially since it has received significant media and artistic coverage. Rather, what struck me was happening entirely outside the script and off the stage.
When I noticed the dear brother Abdullah Al-Mutair, father of the stars Khaled and Ahmed Al-Mutair, present hours before the show, moving about, supervising, and coordinating, attending to entrances and exits, and hosting guests while ensuring everyone’s comfort, whether they knew them or not, I saw him behave like a man bearing responsibilities that require someone to shoulder them. It was precisely then that I found myself reflecting on the meaning of true support.
The support I refer to is the kind that emerges when belief in one’s children’s talent becomes a responsibility, and when love transforms into a daily act of facing pressures and exhaustion so that others may have a wider space to succeed. Some may view these as trivial matters, but in reality, they are responsibilities that demand time, effort, patience, and perhaps many sacrifices unknown to others.
Therefore, I believe Khaled and Ahmed Al-Mutair are extremely fortunate to have their father, "Bou Feisal," by their side, as they possess a model of fathers who understand that standing behind one’s children is particularly crucial in the arts, because the nature of an artist requires space to experiment, make mistakes, succeed, take risks, and differ. In light of the competition currently experienced by Kuwaiti theater, the presence of a family that believes in the artist and supports them becomes an additional value that cannot be ignored.
What stood out to me during the performance and between acts was that the presence of the highly respected Abdullah Al-Mutair was not limited to his sons alone; he was present for the play and its entire team, because the most beautiful form of support is one that knows no boundaries of kinship, as he embraced everyone and encouraged them, from the youngest to the oldest.
Thus, some fathers do not request a seat in the front row, nor do they expect applause or a name at the end of the show. It is enough for them to see their children on stage and to feel that all the time, effort, and anxiety they invested were not in vain. These are the ones who do not step onto the stage, yet without them, the story may remain incomplete.
