Hannah Khalil’s new play, Love Omar, is coming to Theatro Technis next month, described as “a love letter to theatre”.
“One hour until curtain up, and Omar Sharif isn’t happy. The show went well last night, but he feels aggrieved that he was upstaged by his fellow actor, again.  He puts on his makeup and longs for a little moment of peace.  But that isn’t easy when he has to share a dressing room.  It’s more than Omar can endure – he is the star, isn’t he?
And then comes Mag, the assistant director, although Omar has hardly noticed her before. He thinks she’s disturbing him to give feedback on last night’s performance, but she has more important things to discuss. And Daphne, his dresser, has been given the task of finding out whether Omar has dyed his moustache again. There have been complaints. These are escalating.
Being a successful actor isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Where: Theatro Technis, Mornington Crescent
When: 7 May-6 June
Ticket link: https://www.theatrotechnis.com/whatson/love-omar
The legendary actor Omar Sharif is the topic of your new play, Love Omar. Why was he of interest to you?
My mum is Irish and first came to London as a 16-year-old trainee nurse. She watched Dr Zhivago multiple times and fell in love with Omar Sharif, then she met my father, who bears a passing resemblance to the great man as a fellow handsome moustachioed Arab, at a party, and the rest is history.
I feel I have to thank Sharif in part for my existence! Also, as the world’s most famous Arab actor, he has always been a source of intrigue, so this opportunity to research the man and the actor was an absolutely joyful and fascinating experience.
Theatro Technis is a fascinating place for drama to flourish. How can you see Love Omar working out there in terms of staging?
My play is all about being backstage and what happens behind the scenes at a theatre, so the intimacy and the history of Theatro Technis is the perfect setting. I’m hoping the audience will feel they really are in the dressing room with the great man himself, getting a privileged glimpse of what happens behind the scenes before curtain up as the company prepares to go on…
To create this fictional piece, you’ve done a lot of interviews and research to get a picture of the real man and his time working at the Chichester Festival. Has this changed your opinion of him, for better or worse?
It’s given me more insight into what a complex person he was, full of contradictions. He seems to have loved the limelight and been incredibly generous, hosting large impromptu parties frequently.  I get the sense he might have been quite lonely, hence wanting to be surrounded by people. We often forget about the loneliness of fame.
My research has also thrown up a wealth of anecdotes, which are delicious and fascinating. Some must be myth, but it’s hard to separate fact from fiction with such a legend. The story goes that his presence in Chichester in 1983 caused such excitement that the huge Chichester car park was full of acolytes when he arrived, desperate for a glimpse of this Hollywood star. Â
Meanwhile, the local post office complained about the amount of fan mail, so much that it caused delays to all the surrounding areas’ postal deliveries!
How would you sell this play to an audience in one sentence?
A chance to meet an icon and spend time in his dressing room before curtain up … who wouldn’t want to do that?
What’s next for the show after this run?
We have hopes, but nothing is confirmed yet … watch this space!