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Ahoy there, me hearties! There's a play afoot and it's happening right under our noses.
Finding the Pirates Activities was a bit like hunting for treasure at Deira City Centre this week. But given a little thought, the secret location was obvious - where else would the chest-full of riches be but hidden among the up-market stores of Bin Hendi Avenue?
After we had covered the length of the shopping mall - following directions to go up the escalators, then all the way to the cinema end before, strangely, going down the escalators again - we finally stumbled upon our loot.
The stage was set and the performers were ready, but where was the audience? No matter, the show must go on and the professionals from Lebanon gave it their all, trusting their public would find them.
Menacing
Loosely based on the characters of Peter Pan, the evil Captain Hook gave a rather menacing performance, which had the desired effect on a few of the children who had stopped by to watch.
While the baddies raced against time to locate the treasure trove with their scrolled up map, the jovial character "Peter" realised he'd get nowhere without a little help from his friends.
With admirable enthusiasm, the goodie pulled up four little on-lookers who had gathered to help him piece together a map. Sisters Bea, 8, and Bianca, 4, joined forces with brothers Majid, 7, and Al Hadi Al Khalifa, 5, to put the puzzle together as Peter danced along and played air guitar to La Bamba before getting the children to join him.
If that was all too surreal, the slapstick humour of Captain Hook and his companion Jack was enough to remind us we were on a pantomime trip to treasure.
'Sweet'
Getting into the spirit of things and clapping along with the music was mum Mai Al Khaifa, originally from Sudan, whose sons had helped out on stage.
The 35-year-old, from Garhoud, said that at around 20 minutes, the show was just the right length of time.
"I thought it was sweet and I liked the interaction, especially the dancing," she said.
"My sons didn't want to come at first because they thought the pirates would be scary but they really enjoyed it."
Another parent watching from the sidelines was Rady Oscan, from Al Rigga Road, whose daughters had also enjoyed their moment on the stage.
"It's the first time we've seen it and it was good entertainment," he said. "We were just having a shop and a look around and it just happened that we came down and saw the show."
But the 38-year-old Filipino felt the event could have been better situated.
"I think the location wasn't right because most of the people are upstairs and nobody really knows about it. If we hadn't come down, we wouldn't have known what was going on."
Event evolution
Jean-Luc Zabbal, owner of Event Attack, which teamed up with Solution A2Z to bring the Lebanese performers to Dubai, says the annual fiesta of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) is getting bigger every year.
"It's been 10 years, so Dubai is ahead of other countries in terms of events like these," he said. "This is one of the biggest events that happens in Dubai, with children's activities and mall activities. We are now in our fifth year with DSS. The first time we took one or two projects and now we have 12 projects in DSS - it's a big evolution."
Other shows brought by the partnership include the Cowboys, Health and Road Signs events.
Don't miss it
The pirates can be seen three times a night at Bin Hendi Avenue, Deira City Centre, from now until Friday. The first show starts at 5.30pm.
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