The UAE-based Arab Theatre Institute (ATI) held its 11th Arab Theatre Festival (10-16 January) in Cairo. While ATI is based in Sharjah, its activities serve all the Arab countries and extend beyond the borders of the UAE. Launched by Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, in the last 10 years, ATI has made a huge difference on the Arab theatre scene. ATI produces and publishes books that serve theatre artists and scholars equally: from its series of plays, to translations and theatre studies, it provides a powerful alternative to the theatre book series published in Kuwait in the past, and to the publications of the old Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (through which Fawzi Fahmi managed to create a strong translation movement that fuelled the Arabic library with a treasure trove nobody seems to have access to today). Despite the current movement towards digitalisation, the publications of the old CIFET remain lost, and no plans seem in place to republish or make them available online. By contrast, ATI has magnificently projected a future vision and policy for its publication unit. Headed by the prominent Sudanese scholar Youssef Al-Aidabi, the publications in their printed form are available at all the Arab theatre festivals, and also made available online. In this way ATI guarantees the future life of its publications, and supports their regional and international diffusion for the benefit of Arabic-speaking readers as well as making provisions for scholarly work via multiple references provided online for researches and students of all forms of Arab theatres. The rare case of an emirate ruler who is also a playwright makes the foundation of ATI quite unique, and provides a solid basis for funding and regional prospects. With a unique sense of cultural responsibility and patronage, Sheikh Sultan has supported a vision for the whole Arab region where theatre plays a vital role in the pedagogy of the citizens and the shaping of social expressions and communications. Never has a political leader been so specifically interested in theatre as to turn sphere of power, the emirate of Sharjah, into a utopia for theatre makers and students. In September 2019, Sharjah will add to its outstanding achievements in the field the launching of the first performing arts academy in the UAE. Following an international curriculum, the academy will employ international expertise in all its teaching departments, and focus on giving the arts scene a new generation of educated artists who aspire to renew the disciplines and professions of the performing arts.
*** The Arab Theatre Festival is held every year in a different Arab country. This year's edition in Cairo was held under the auspices of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. The opening ceremony was directed by the prominent Khaled Galal, who formulated an elegant and sophisticated visual performance summarising the history of Egyptian theatre, and focusing on the theatre icons who were honoured by the festival this year. Twenty-five artists filled the stage of the big hall of the Cairo Opera House, and presented a live archive of modern theatre history in Egypt. Ismail Al-Abdallah, secretary-general of ATI, delivered a beautiful speech embedded in his love of Egypt. It was touching to witness this gesture of love for Egypt and for theatre while the world outside seems to be falling apart. It is also worth mentioning that in 2018 ATI launched a new funding programme dedicated to supporting a national theatre festival in every Arab country. In a very short time many theatre festivals were launched on a national scale with direct funding from ATI. This is quite an extraordinary task that could only be achieved with the passion of Ismail Al-Abdallah, the dedication and professionalism of Ghannam Ghannam, the efficiency and administrative planning of Hassan Al-Nifali, and the absolutely outstanding management and execution of Reema Al-Ghussain: a task force of superheroes. Among the productions presented in Cairo was The Madman, directed by the brilliant Mohamed Al-Amri, and adapted by Mohamed Kassem from Gibran's text. The production represented the UAE in the official competition. It also previously won the prizes of best performance, best director and best actor, among others, at the Sharjah Days festival in 2018. But in the Arab Theatre Festival, The Madman did not win. There was only one prize in the official competition dedicated to the best performance, and it was given to The Collar and the Bracelet by the iconic Egyptian director Nasser Abdel-Moneim. Yet The Madman rightly generated unprecedented applause and appreciation equally from the spectators and the artists. Al-Amri manages to create a unique scenography, with a directorial signature that cannot be missed. The text, the acting, the movement and the whole identity of the performance takes us on a journey into the mind of that Madman, making a clear shift from the reality outside the venue, and the realistic renditions of such topics. Al-Amri is equipped with a powerful imagination that underlies his theatre making, shaping the imagery of his performances visually and sensuously. While watching the performance, you can experience some scenes in an affective and sensuous way, as if they spoke not only to the ear but to the organic self. It is an experience where the spectator becomes quickly engaged, and delves into the experience without taking the traditional position of a “viewer”, but rather the position of a “witness”. The Madman was presented at Balloon Theatre venue, where both the performance and the spectators (seated) were positioned on stage. The gigantic stage of the Balloon turned into a black box. The efforts behind such a transformation are huge, theatre professionals in particular will realise what it entails in terms of adapting light and sound. I imagine that Al-Amri had to work a small miracle to achieve this transformation. Yet another transformation related to receiving the spectators and welcoming them on stage. Of course, the size of the seating area was limited, but the stage arrangement could fit more people than I had imagined. Nevertheless, the ushers knew nothing about organising the process of audience entrance although there was a specific number of seats they knew existed, and the tickets held by the spectators were also marked with numbers for this specific performance. I imagine that it was not so difficult to match the number of tickets with the number of seats on stage, yet the entrance process turned out to be a real tragedy, marked by the agony and humiliation of the spectators. I suppose those employees did not know how to handle the situation, with the result that it quickly escalated into a crisis. Having several elderly people present made the whole scene a stain in the memory of theatre-goers. In the end people discovered the stage was already half full when the ushers let them in. A question remains: How and why were those seats filled with people before the real spectators came in? And what is this system of discrimination and corruption that gives secret access to certain people while others have a hard time coming in? When The Collar and the Bracelet was presented on the same stage, Nasser Abdel-Moneim had the clever idea of offering two performances every day. This idea really rescued the performance from the tragedy of The Madman. I wonder if this solution is valid for all performances that require the audience be seated on stage. Obviously, the number of operating black box theatres provided by the Ministry of Culture does not satisfy artistic demand during a big festival. Many theatre venues are still closed for restoration. And the struggle to enter to the stage becomes an intrinsic part of the experience of spectatorship as lived in Cairo. Maybe there is a way to bring theatre back to the open public sphere, to extend performances outside indoor venues, and invest in the possibilities of outdoor performances. This option was not available under the emergency law which ruled Egypt over 35 years, but with Al-Sisi's evident support for theatre it might be possible to open a new chapter in the relationship between the public sphere and the performing arts — and a chance to revisit the concepts of spectatorship in relation to the city as a performative stage.
