AMMAN — Hasan Sabaileh and Rania Ismail, the actors behind the
popular series ‘
Zaal & Khadra,’ took similar paths to their roles, both
defying their parents’ expectations to pursue acting they told
Jordan News.
اضافة اعلان
Hasan Sabaileh, who plays Zaal, first discovered his talent when
he was in school.
His parents opposed his intent to study fine arts at
Yarmouk University because he also received a scholarship to study civil engineering in
Russia. However, he refused their wishes and pursued a degree in fine arts at
Yarmouk University.
After graduating, Sabaileh joined the army where he taught young
people and wrote plays simultaneously. He then began acting professionally,
mostly on Syrian-Jordanian television series produced in Jordan. He mastered
the Syrian dialect used in these series so well many thought he was a Syrian
actor, he told
Jordan News in an interview. He played a character named Assaf
in a Jordanian work titled “The Good Roots” and then Salman in the “Wadi
Al-Ghajar” series.
“After that, I first worked in the comedy theater with Mahmoud
Saimeh and Nabil Al-Mashini and other comedy stars in Jordan,” the performer
said. “I caught the audience’s attention with my roles. I then moved into the
political theater with Nabil Sawalha.”
The actor said his talent really shined when he began performing
in “Zaal & Khadra.” The series, which lasted for thirteen years, explored a
wide variety of topics relevant to Jordanian society.
His co-star in the series, Rania Ismail started acting at a
similar age. “I participated in school theater when I was a kid, and I felt
that I had the talent, but no one guided me,” said Ismail, who plays Khadra.
“Not like the school system today where there is a specialized team to help the
students in their career choice. When I was at UNRWA schools, we had a school
theater, and our teaching was strong, but there was no guidance.”
Ismail went on to study law, but after winning a couple of awards
for her acting, she explained that Iraqi director Auni Karumi saw her perform
and suggested she take an acting test, less she was lost to “the artistic
community”. She went on to pass an acting exam with flying colors and switched
studies.
“I worked in the experimental theater, then I entered the comedy
theater with Hasan and Mahmoud Saimeh,” said Ismail. “We worked on Zaal &
Khadra, (and then) on awareness-raising and interactive comedy after that.”
Sabaileh said that the two faced challenges of their own when they
first started. “When we initially started with the political comedy theater, we
faced challenges from our fellow actors because they thought that we presented
a useless commercial theater. But the audience stood by us, and the theater
halls were always filled with people from all over the Kingdom.”
The actor added that he faced criticism for using accessible
language to communicate intellectual messages during his performances, rather
than using classical Arabic, “where neither the audience nor even the one
presenting these plays understands what they are saying.”
Now, Ismail and Sabaileh hope to leverage their talents to help
others. They currently operate a non-profit company named Zaal & Khadra for
Creative Arts and the Zaal & Khadra Association for Community Arts.
“Through the company and the association, we have training workshops, and we
train students on emotional intelligence skills and leadership skills through
performing arts,” Ismail said. “Then they take a certificate approved by our
company.”
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