Duraid Lahham: I Quitted Theater for Lack of Physical, Psychological Power

Syrian comedy star Duraid Lahham started his artistic career in 1960 when the Syrian TV was opened by playing the role as Ghawwar, which he innovated in many comedy series such as Sahh al Nom and Melh Wa Sukkar (Salt and Sugar) to turn afterwards to artworks that belong to social critic genre in a comedy style such as the films al Hudood (Borders), al Kafron and al Taqrir (Report).
“There is no doubt that the 1967 war which was dubbed al Naksah (Defeat) was very hard on us as we were dreaming to achieve something. In four hours this dream evaporated and we discovered that the Arab rulers lied to us and their claimed victories were nothing but words. This defeat made us feel that art should have a say in what happened. Therefore I offered the play Kasak Ya Watan (Cheers My Homeland), Daiat Tishreen, Ghorbeh (Estrangement) and Sane’ al Matar (Rain Maker),” Lahham told the daily al Nahar.
The renowned actor explained his stage quittance by saying, “theater requires physical, psychological and daily efforts. My age as a grandfather has not left me any of these capabilities but the more painstaking reason is that my theater is committed to the national issues. The national issues have become small opposite the Arab citizen daily concerns. In the past when we mentioned a statement about the Arab unity, the hall used to be filled with enthusiasm and applaud but these days everybody is concerned about his bread which has become more important.”