Cairo: Next week, the 15th National Egyptian Theater Festival will start in Cairo, dedicated to director, actor and playwright Aziz Eid (1884-1942), with the participation of more than 30 performances from various production bodies.
The festival will start on July 24 at the Grand Theater of the Opera House with the show “Ya Aziz Aini” prepared and directed by Issam El-Sayed on the book “Aziz Eid. The Burning Bird of Art” by Safaa Al-Toukhi.
Festival head Youssef Ismail said in a press conference on Tuesday that the viewing and selection committee headed by the artist Alaa Quqa received in this session between 130 and 140 offers from independent groups, university groups, companies and artistic unions.
Ismail added, “The committee complied with the festival’s regulations and excluded many shows that did not meet the conditions, such as the year of production of the work so that the final number after adding the performances of the Artistic House of Theatre, the General Authority for Cultural Palaces and the Ministry of Youth to 33 shows.”
He pointed out that the selected performances include a number of children’s shows such as “Sinbad” and “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” by the under-18 band from the Artistic House of Folklore.
The performances will be held until August 8 in 15 theatres across Cairo, including Al-Taliaa, Al-Salam, Al-Gomhouria, Al-Nahar and Al-A’am.
Festival director Ismail Mukhtar said that attending all performances is free of charge, taking into account the restrictions imposed on curbing the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic, given the noticeable increase in cases globally.
This year, the festival celebrates the theatre director and honours four directors: Essam El-Sayed, Nasser Abdel Moneim, Ahmed Ismail and Murad Mounir, in addition to actor and director Mohamed Sobhi, actress Aida Fahmy, actor Sabri Abdel Moneim, decorator Fadi Fouquet, and the names of the late Abdel Rahim Al-Zarqani and Amina Rizk.
The head of the festival said, “This year, the session is about the theatre director, the Egyptian theatre director in particular, and not the theatrical director at all. The idea in this is that the director is the person most responsible for the creative process, but he always remains behind the scenes and does not appear to the audience.”
The festival programme includes three workshops, the first in theatrical direction presented by Islam Imam, the second in acting by the artist Mohamed Abdel Hadi, and the third in puppetry and movement presented by the artist Imad Abu Saree.
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