Al Wasl

About

Commissioned as a cultural milestone for Expo 2020 Dubai, Al Wasl (which translates to “the connection” and is an old name for Dubai) was produced in collaboration with Welsh National Opera. The production celebrates the Expo 2020 theme, “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” emphasizing international cooperation and sustainability. Directed by Sir David Pountney, the staging is dominated by an image of intersecting rings. Pountney approaches the narrative imaginatively and symbolically rather than in strict realism. The visual world moves through time: Act I offers a metaphorical desert; the middle act shifts to the present, referencing the creation of the Burj Khalifa; and the final act enters a “pure fantasyland” that imagines future outcomes shaped by a commitment to a sustainable tomorrow. The project’s scale brought 165 members of Welsh National Opera to Dubai, joining over 100 performers and a 70-strong technical team.