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Dubai: Beloved UAE theatre veteran and educator Eric Dury, also known as Roslee Abdullah, died on Saturday, his wife Shereen Shabnam confirmed to Gulf News.
Dury, who spent more than 25 years in the UAE as an actor, educator and passionate supporter of the local theatre community, died on Saturday night after spending at least four weeks in hospital following a prolonged battle with leukaemia.
His death has prompted an outpouring of tributes from actors, theatre groups, former students and colleagues across the UAE’s performing arts community.
His Janazah took place on Sunday at Al Qusais Cemetery Mosque in Dubai after Asr prayers, with the funeral gathering from 3pm.
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Theatre stalwart
For more than two decades, Dury was a familiar presence on UAE stages, while also working as an educator at the University of Sharjah and Zayed University.
He arrived in the UAE in 1999 and became closely associated with the Dubai Drama Group, taking on a wide range of roles in productions including The Importance of Being Earnest, The Homecoming, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Hamlet: 5 Acts, 5 Actors, Plaza Suite and Jack & the Beanstalk.
His work extended across the UAE theatre scene, with roles for Raw Theatre, Danú Dubai Theatre, Tall Tales and Bark at a Crow Productions.
At Danú Dubai, he played the Arms Dealer in The Al-Hamlet Summit, while other notable roles included Count De Guiche in Raw Theatre’s Cyrano de Bergerac and Steve in Tall Tales’ Just Like That.
Short+Sweet
Dury had a particularly strong connection with Short+Sweet Dubai, performing in the festival between 2014 and 2017 before returning as a judge in 2018, 2019 and most recently in 2026.
He won the Short+Sweet Best Actor Award in 2016 for his performance in New Year’s Eve and was runner-up for Best Actor the following year for The Coming Out.
Alex Broun, festival director of Short+Sweet Dubai, described Dury as one of the UAE theatre community’s “true stalwarts”.
“Eric was a much-loved actor, educator and member of the UAE theatre community for more than 25 years,” Broun said in a social media tribute. He also remembered Dury as a familiar face on Dubai stages and “a wonderful supporter” of Short+Sweet Dubai.
“Eric was one of a kind: generous, distinctive, passionate about theatre and always memorable on stage,” Broun said.
He added that Dury would be “very sadly missed” by those who had the privilege of knowing and working with him.
Lifetime honour
Dury’s contribution to theatre was recognised in 2025, when he received the UAE Theatre Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award recognised a theatrical career that stretched across decades and countries.
Before moving to the UAE, Dury had spent many years in Malaysia, where he was involved in amateur theatre as well as television and semi-professional stage work.
His performing career also took him to festivals in Edinburgh, Singapore and Perth. But it was in the UAE that he became a longstanding part of the local theatre community, combining his work in education with an active performing career.
Tributes
UAE-based performing artist Lamya Tawfiq described Dury as one of the UAE acting community’s “greatest”. “He was an extremely talented actor and an important anchor to all of us,” she said.
“When you read his name in the cast list of any production you knew that you were not going to be disappointed.”
Tawfiq said Dury’s contribution went beyond his work on stage.
“He was highly respected for his jovial character, his support to fellow actors and his humbleness,” she said.
“If he wasn’t in a production he was always in the audience supporting others.” She recalled sharing the stage with Dury in a 2022 Murder Mystery production, describing it as an opportunity to see the actor “in action”.
‘True gentleman’
Danú Dubai Theatre also paid tribute to Dury, describing him as “a true gentleman, a wonderful actor and a hugely valued member of the UAE theatre community”.
“We were very fortunate at Danú Dubai to have Eric involved in many of our projects, most notably Al Hamlet Summit,” the theatre group shared on Facebook. The group remembered him as “one of the most polished, professional and exciting actors” it had worked with.
“He possessed an extraordinary range as a performer, able to shift effortlessly between wit, intensity, vulnerability and stillness,” it said.
“There was always something alive and unpredictable in his work.”
Danú also highlighted his life away from the stage, describing him as warm, generous and kind. “Eric gave so much to theatre in the UAE over many years, as an actor, educator and supporter of the arts,” the group said.
“His contribution to our theatre community was immense.”
For those who knew Dury through classrooms, rehearsals, performances and theatre gatherings, his legacy extends beyond the many characters he played.
He leaves behind his wife Shereen, his son Adam and daughter Natasha, former students, fellow performers and a UAE theatre community in which he spent more than two decades making his mark.
