Baghdad: Every evening at the Muntada al-Masrah theater on Rashid street, the cast and crew of the first TV drama filmed in Iraq in seven years take their places among the rooms and courtyard of this 19th-century building and shoot new scenes of their highly-anticipated series.
The arts are coming to life again in Baghdad, bringing with it a touch of hope and comfort as the country works to rebuild after 16 years of war. And after two decades abroad, two of Iraq’s leading actors have returned to take part in The Hotel, the twenty-episode drama set to air during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
“The Iraqi people are parched for drama,” said Hassan Hosni, a drama star of the 1990s, who returned from Saudi Arabia to direct The Hotel, a show about the seedy underbelly of Baghdad and its entanglement with human trafficking. It is the first Ramadan drama to be produced in Iraq since 2012, according to the cast and crew, and it heralds a return of an essential TV genre to the country.
Across the Muslim world and throughout the month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from dawn until sunset and stay up late to digest their evening meals, viewers are treated to TV dramas that touch on romance, war, tyranny and other issues of the day.
For years, Iraqis have been watching dramas from other nations, such as Bab al-Hara, the blockbuster Syrian series set during the 1930s independence movement from France. With The Hotel, Iraqis will have a home-grown series to watch for the first time in years, amid the longest stretch of stability Baghdad has experienced since the 2003 US invasion.
“We were all waiting for this moment — writers, directors and actors — with total impatience,” Hosni said, adding, “I felt it in the streets, when we were scouting for locations.” Locals, shocked to see him back in their city, approached the star to ask about the series. “The joy was clear in their eyes, expressions and words,” he said.
Once the capital of the Islamic world, Baghdad is a city that proudly displays its affection for drama and poetry, boasting monuments that show scenes from Arabian Nights and avenues named after renowned poets such as the boastful Mutanabbi of the 10th century and his bibulous predecessor, Abu Nawas.
It has held on to this pride through the contemporary era, even as the coups and wars of the 20th century, the tyranny of Saddam Hussein and the grip of UN curbs drove writers, actors and producers out of the nation.
